The Religion (HUM112) mid-term exam consists of one question:
The number of angels on the head of a pin is which one of the following:
A) an integer
B) a real number
c) an imaginary number
d) an irrational number
Provide a formal proof.
I usually let the music “On the Player” speak for itself. I comment on “Schlagers” because of the fabulous talent that Warner Bros was able to bring together. Joni Mitchell, Mike Post, Frank Sinatra, Miriam Makeba, Vince Guaraldi (not playing Peanuts or Cast Your Fate to the Wind). I put this on because I asked my wife “Suggest some music that we don’t play much”. “What about those collections that I used to get”. Yes, Schlagers is a Promotional Album. Not to be sold. Basically for the cost of shipping, you got half-a-party of music for $3 (barely covered shipping). From back when Warner Bros had something worth promoting. And they promoted the dickens out of it. Promotion is euphemism for sharing. For free. Thank you Ms. Elaine Geller for many happy hours. I presume that Ms. Geller ran the fulfillment office. I hope that she is happily and richly retired. And that she has sold her stock in that loser Warner Bros and the other scum companies that are members of what the RIAA has become.
The Florida pastor who wants to burn the Quran is wrong headed. Instead of burning a holy book, he should try burning Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s The Grand Design. The act might please God, would not harm soldiers in Afghanistan, it would satisfy the pastor’s arson-istic cravings, and Professor Hawking might enjoy the publicity. Everybody knows banning or burning books increases sales.
My wife had a friend in for a chat. I was working at home as I sometimes do. The upstairs gets warm because of the roof. After the friend left, my wife said, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the air conditioner is out”. The usual tests, “call for cool”, “call for heat”, “fan only”, all fail. So the question is “Where is the problem?”. Looking into it, the LED on the control module is out. Checking the 5 amp fuse on the control module shows the puff of smoke. Jumpering the fuse with some light wire and flee clips (don’t forget to turn the power off at the breaker) brought the A/C to life. Off to Walmart to get a replacement fuse. The fuse is the same kind used in older autos with flat lugs. Walmart had 10, 15, 20, 30 in that still 5 to a pack. The only way to get 2 5′s was to buy a $16 combo kit. Since I figured it started OK with the jumper on. And the jumper did not feel warm after a couple of minutes, probably not a short. Bought the fuses and put the correct value 5 amp in to replace the jumper. (Don’t forget to turn the power off at the breaker).
My son’s car and my wife’s car use the new style fuse with pointed lugs.
My daughter’s car and my car use the old flat lug style. Hopefully, I will still have the same set of fuses unused when the cars need to be replaced.
Moral: Don’t Panic. Check the on-board fuse before you call an expensive service-person..
My wife mentioned that there was power surge that I did not notice since my laptop battery covered for the loss of public power.
By the way, the cool weather came in for the Labor day Weekend and we have had the windows and doors open since Saturday.
I opened the Summer issue of the Furman alumni magazine only to find a picture of my neighbor. (Unfortunately, the webmaster cannot keep up with the print publication and and there are many broken links besides). I would post links to the pics but cannot. Please make do with this scan.
John Burton (left) explains the details of the Austin-Healey 100 engine.
I got the notion to learn something about GTK and review my C++. I have recently upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 so some of the things I had before are gone.
Before you start, you will need libgtkmm-2.4-dev (version 1:2.18.2-1) installed.
When you install it should also call for
libcairomm-1.0-dev (version 1.8.0-1build1) will be installed
libglibmm-2.4-dev (version 2.22.1-2) will be installed
libpangomm-1.4-dev (version 2.26.0-0ubuntu2) will be installed
libsigc++-2.0-dev (version 2.0.18-2) will be installed
You may wish to install
gtkmm-documentation (version 2.17.4-0ubuntu1) will be installed
libglademm-2.4-doc (version 2.6.7-2) will be installed
libglibmm-2.4-doc (version 2.22.1-2) will be installed
libgtkmm-2.4-doc (version 1:2.18.2-1) will be installed
At that point, you can copy and paste the example code found on Wikipedia.
In order to follow the example literally, you will need to save each of the text files as the name indicated in the first line comment into an empty directory. Start a command line window and switch to that directory. Then the command given in the example should work.
If you copy and paste the g++ command you will get it right. If you type it, the “`” things are in the upper-left on most keyboards under the tilde (~), not a single-quote (‘)
me@home:~/Projects/gtk/hww$ g++ *.cc -o example `pkg-config gtkmm-2.4 –cflags –libs`
me@home:~/Projects/gtk/hww$ ./example
Hello world
me@home:~/Projects/gtk/hww$
The music of Astor Piazzolla. In case you had not guessed, my favorite Yo-Yo Ma out of half-a-dozen Yo-Yo Ma Cd’s. Cello, bandoneón, piano, guitar. A pretty woman and a little wine are the only things that can add to that.
There was a camp. All boys at camp Y-Noah in those days. Maybe different now. Back then a big treat was to go to a pine grove on the south side of the lake for an overnight. Great camping, quiet. And pine duff is soft and smooth. In those days, we carefully stepped across the spillway of the dam to get to the grove.
I am sure that many things have changed since those days. But one thing I know for sure is the same. The concrete dam that forms Lake Noah is still there. Which means that Headless Haddie still does not sleep at night.
That was already an old legend 50 years ago when I was a camper at Camp Y-Noah. Haddie was said t0 be a local girl, just about 12 or so. When the workmen were building the dam, somehow, Haddie, too close to where the concrete was being poured, was struck by a bulldozer, her head severed instantly by the impact, rolled into the flowing concrete and was buried. Her folks buried her body in a nearby graveyard. But on moonless nights, her ghost comes to the lake to see if she can find her head.
The sound you hear in the pine grove is Haddie’s dress, blowing gently in the summer wind.
Make sure you know where your stuff is. Especially your flashlight. Did you remember fresh batteries?
Sleep tight campers.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has discussed with other lawmakers the possibility of drafting a constitutional amendment to deny U.S. born children of illegally present mothers the U.S. citizenship guaranteed by the constitution. Go for it Senator! Senator Graham and his cronies cannot seem to even get a majority together to properly fund a patrol on the border to keep out drug carriers or bombers. He should be concentrating on sorting the wheat from the chaff of the immigrants who come here by choice. He should leave the newborns that have no choice in the matter alone. Apparently his once keen mind is fading. A trick from Genesis: Distract the audience with something truly inconsequential while the really important stuff slithers by. Time to pass the baton, Senator Graham. I will be voting for whoever makes him Former Senator Graham.
Sitting here on the deck on a seasonally hot day reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I have a glass of what was ice water. Before the ice “cubes” melted, they were prisms of a segment. That is the shape that the level water in the ice maker has as the intersection with the arc that is the mold. Someplace around here, I have articles (a,b,c) about ice maker repair but when it works an ice maker is a wonderful thing.
In a previous time, the ice cubes had to be made in the freezer section of the refrigerator. A metal pan held held metal dividers that had to be warmed or shifted with a lever to separate the rectangular prisms from the separators in the tray. When plastic became popular, a plastic tray made “cubes” with trapezoidal faces. These trays ejected the ice everywhere but into the glass you were trying to fill.
Back even farther, chunks of ice were broken from the same block of ice that cooled the food in the ice box. An ice pick was poked at the ice until a chunk came off. The block of ice likely came from an ice plant where ammonia refrigerant cooled a couple of gallons of water in each mold to make thousands of blocks every day.
Even farther back and maybe still today where it is more economical than not, ice was sawn from surface of a lake or even a purpose-built pond. Hauled and stored in an ice-house with sawdust packed between the blocks to keep them from sticking and to insulate.
Just some thoughts on a day when the temperature is 97 or so. A bit of a breeze make it tolerable. And ice water makes it enjoyable.