December 23, 2020

For those love science related visuals Who here...

... hasn't Zoomed the Mandelbrot Set yet?

Just in case my most favorite one is

Mandelbrot Zoom 10^227


If you're never seen any, or if you've never seen
this particular one I highly recommend it
The color set goes from white, yellows, oranges,
browns with a touch of purple & black background
Very golden like

I've been following this since the mid '80s when during the then IBM building (NYC) had a showcase mini museum in it's building's basement. Once they had an Art & Computers exhibition.

All manner of stuff including Fractals & CGI. But on a different display one of 3 programs was "Explore the
Mandelbrot Set". I spent about 2 weeks off & on playing with ratio of iterations to zooming, color sets. The screen was about ?2ft x 2 ft. It was glorious.

Then the last week I didn't get much time bc Scientific America published an artist on Mandelbrot and all guys up stairs who may have spent many hours on their home computer just trying to generate a B&W image; when they found out there was a full color computer program with parallel processing down stairs...
the Stampede was on!
Only got to use it a bit, but I remember sitting with a guy (whether from IBM or not) who had the SA issue and I showed him the basics and some of the finer points of tweaking the image.

December 18, 2020

What Historic & Nature Places do you want to (or have) visit(ed)?

There are long standing jokes about NYC'r (of which I'm one) not visiting our tourist places.

Maybe bc my folks were both -first gen- Americans they took us as kids to the Statue of Liberty. We trudged up the spiral staircase in the statue itself after the typical zig zag stairs through the base. What was cool about the spiral was every turn or so would be a cantilevered seat with a guardrail to rest. We got to look out the small windows and see the Harbor. I think we went back down by stair, though there was an elevator. I was around ?5 - 6. Cool experience.

Suddenly blanked out on visits w patents.
I remember one more - driving down to Coney Island Amusement Park when the Steeple Chase was still there!

I've often visited Ft Tryon Park (The Cloisters is there). The top part of the Fort (Birtish Colonial) is a lovely area to sit in with beautiful tall trees.
I've worked right near The Stock Exchange.
Ridden the Staten Island Ferry for fun.
Visited Windows on the World, and Observatory.
(worked at the South Tower, too)
I went by Frances Tavern (read the Plaque) when I worked near by.
-----------------------------------
On to other places -

Been to DC many times. I love 💖 The National Mall. Been in most of the ❤️ Smithsonian Museums. Took the Capitol tour.
The best was visiting the WH the Xmas season that The Clinton's declared The Year of The American Craftsman!
Each of the trees were dedicated a single material:
Metal, Wood, Fiber, and more! Glorious!

The most sobering were visiting The American History Museum after they had the installed the Lunch Counter (? Woolworths) where one of the first Sit-ins occurred. I tingled with *History* in the air!

Also on the same day (or maybe different trip?) a gorgeous dry low 80s sunny day. I visited ❤️ both JFK's and RFK's graves. Sigh. (I actually saw JFK's white picket fence one in '64 when my parents wanted to visit).

I took a tour around The Black Hills (and Mt Rushmore) '80.
Visited (swoon) The Grand Canyon.
.
And a gifted vacation I saw The Efil Tower, The Lourvre,
The museum where Monet's Waterlilies are displayed Paris in general. More swoon.

What do I still want to see?
Oh, The Pyramids (swoon) but unless I'm amazingly lucky, that's probably not happening.
And to stay somewhere where I will be able to see the Northern Lights! (more swoon)

I've ended up being quite in this area of my life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So - tell me, us... of your dreams came true!!! stories and
your your traveling hopes for the future l!.

I'd love to hear your tales... 🙂
🚙🚲✈️🚁🛳️🛶🚆

(🚀 not available quite yet)

December 7, 2020

So, what do you think the actual inauguration will look like?

Every one social distancing up on the platform/stage... will some kind of Capitol Police make say - the Republican Senators, and Reps social distance , and wear a mask?

Socially distancing, and masks with the chair section?

If they allow people on The Mall -
I believe since I'll be mostly Dems local, and out of town people will social distance, and wear masks.

--------------------------------------------------
Makes me mad we can't have a normal Inaugural, esp the absolute joy(!!!!!!!) after Kamala & Biden finish their Oaths!

I was at Clinton's first, and both of Obama's.
Omg! The sheer JOY !!!!!!! 😄

I do hope they have 💖fireworks 💖 !!!

November 25, 2020

Very Recent Interview w Dr Faucci by Tanzina Vega...

within the last few days, maybe even live from this morning (I caught the afternoon replay) done on The Takeaway. Co-produced by WNYC. & WGBH through PRX.

I didn't catch it from the beginning but what I heard were very thorough explanations of the various levels of vetting , and data collection for the CV19 vaccines. Made me feel even more confident about it.

In seeming contrast to at least the header of another thread which caught my attention earlier referring to the CDC's cautions about side effects - Dr Faucci said so far the side effects are in the typical range of arm pain, some muscle aches.
They continue to monitor, and look out for situations like how people with auto immune illnesses react etc.

I think it's worth a listen. 🙂 👍

October 27, 2020

Took me a while to come up with a relatively short...

phrase that highlights what you pointed out.

"Don't make vunerable groups into sacrificial lambs for your political purity, /or the revolt will arise ideas/argument.

I'd been struggling for years to hone this because I could end up sort of flustered and sort of blithering in a verbal discussion - since I fit into a few of the vunerable categories myself. Anxiety would get in my way.

Because of cv19 I haven't had the chance as this would often happen with people espousing their POVs - leaflets, petitions etc in Public places like a big Green Market, etc.

October 21, 2020

I understand...

Ex-Catholic for about 4/5 of my life, not a Christian, Spiritual.

Up untill yesterday since I heard about it ?several weeks back no sympathy, and tons of schaendenfrued.

Yesterday I felt a smidgen of sympathy. My mom became a severe asthmatic (then less so, thank goodness) when I was 5 1/2. She died of unexpected breathing issues decades later.

Still have tons of schaendenfrued.

I will be Extremely Happy when he's off the air for good after all the streams of poison he's spewed!!

👏😂🤣🤪😂🥳🤸🤸🤸✊🎇😂🥳🤸🌈🎉

October 1, 2020

That makes sense...

Programs created by WNYC include

The Brian Lehrer Show
On The Media
This American Life
The New Yorker Radio Hour
The United States of Anxiety
Trump, Inc

plus more podcasts 👍


So being able to listen to straight on broadcast radio in the NYC area to this station is a blessing !!! 🙂

October 1, 2020

For those Upset at NPR... Listen to WNYC beause...

... start with listening to award winning (incld Peabody) journalist and host Brian Lehrer from 10A - Noon.

Why?

Brain concentrates on polititical-social issues. Earlier in drumph's residency Brian used to use softer language until some time in mid '18 or early '19 started using "liar", at some point later "racist", probably "sextist", too, probably also acknowledging the other anti vunerable groups as needed as well.

You can start with his debate review right from today!

Orher hosts, and programs have also been serious about drump's likes, viciousness, greed etc


Try - I think you'll like. 🙂 👍

September 30, 2020

This will be one of the RARE Times I'll watch...

...polygolfer, I understand stand completely as well as anyone else who'll avoid it IRT.

I started to become interested in politics by age 12, too!
Semi polititical junkie for decades since (I'm 67).

Since I really stopped listening to him except for radio snips by something '18, rarely ever watched him from the get go - I can take this.

I want to see Biden, I want to see hopefully real obviously goof ups from Drumph, exactly what lies he tells, and when - plus hoping he'll emotionally blow up, and shave a few more votes off -fingers crossed- in just the right States!
--------------------------------------------

.I did a different set of math - you must have been 15-16 when JFK was inaugurated? Did you follow his Presidency pretty closely, then?

September 14, 2020

How I fell in love w the Twin Towers as buildings (before 9-11 fades for this year)

I was in the Art & Architectural division of a College as an Art student. I also loved Architecture from a young age, so I often hung out with those students as well. I watched them being built from not so far away less than about 2 miles at the edge of The East Village.

They were slagged! I wasn't totally fond of them, but I didn't hate them either.
The best joke was "they were the Boxes that the real buildings came in!" Still a pretty funny joke.

So how did this come to pass? It started by me working there in the South Tower (#2) for 49 weeks from Sept '80 through mid-late Aug '81. They were soooo tall! On the Monday I started through that Thurs I got out of my subway train car, and walked southward underground toward the WTC's massive hustling, bustling, and pretty cool Concourse. I went in there, found my building, and took two elevators to the 73rd flr to the Northeast Corner's big office.

I had no trouble going right to the north windows first time on mid-morning break to look outward (what a view!) then down (what a drop!). Still, it took me till that same week's Friday to actually go outside of the subway station on to the street by one of the complex's smaller buildings (#'s 3, 4, 5, 6 + hotel), march halfway across the Plaza to look up - take a deep breath, and then go inside.
It was that unnerving to me at first! In fact the smaller buildings were actually 10 stories high. I had no idea since The Towers we're almost 10x's taller. I thought they were about 4-5 stories.

What made me fall in love over time was how they became canvases for the sky, light, and clouds. They were clad in white marble which would take on the color s of the sky at different times of the day, evening, white, yellow's, orange, light and vivid pinks, blues changing from light to dark, to black silouettes. And greys on the cloudy . The narrow uninterrupted strips of window glass would reflect sky, and clouds. The fact that there were
two of them made then extra special.

Everyday a changing canvas of light, color, and spaciousness!

The fact that there were two them increased this sense of space they "enclosed", and yet it also to me sent that special space beyond it's you boundaries.

Finally one of the most glorious views was looking up at them in just the right way, and time. While I took a bunch of photos over time out the north and east windows from our high perch this other circumstance was amazing.
From a certain area on the ground (in the Plaza) on a very sunny day (?Spring - Summer) facing west, and bit south you would have the the South Tower (#2) to your left, the North Tower (#1) to your right, and you'd be standing at a centered angle between them.

When you gazed upwards like you might do when seeing a big, puffy cloud fairly high in the sky with the sun behind but near an upper edge. How the rays of light would burst out in beams from behind it?!
Well The Towers did something similar. You'd be seeing the cast of shadowed light fron each building from above, and at each side of you. Those parts of the sky were a mid sky blue. While from where you stood and above in between the towers a lighter blue perhaps tinging towards a lighter green because of the sunlight - it could have even "felt" palish yellow the sunlit sky burst between the buildings eastwards to Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island.

It was majestic! My wonderful, beautiful Twin 💖 Towers!