Author Archive: Conrad Schiff

Well there is a particular nip of cold in the air. Several of the nights have gone down well below what could be called a balmy summer nights and became quite chilly. Unfortunately, the rapid changes in temperature have a tendency to screw up the sinuses and that is exactly what the problem is at Blog Wyrm this week. So we will be featuring a slightly smaller issue this week.

Do you know who Hernando de Soto is? You should! He has emerged as an economist of note who’s policies have offered a turn around for many third world countries. Common Cents has a summary of his philosophy and the changes they have enabled in Peru.

This week’s Aristotle to Digital looks at fallacies and the concept of ‘settled science’. Is it possible to have a fallacy about fallacies? Read and find out.

Under the Hood continues examining the Laplace Transform. This week’s focus is on determining the transient and steady-state behaviors based on the Initial and Final Value Theorems.

Enjoy.

Given the date of this particular issue and the current events we are subjected to on a day-to-day basis, it’s hard not to be introspective. The disaster of 9/11 is still painful and, as no doubt most people are aware, this particular day was marked by a disaster of its own – the collapse of a construction crane into the Great Mosque of Mecca, which killed dozens of people and injured scores more.

There is an odd sort of symmetry that such a tragedy should occur on this day. Unfortunately, the symmetry is a disturbing one.

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, reports came in about people in the Middle East rejoicing at the death and destruction visited on the United States. It was sickening, disgusting, and intolerable. Equally disgusting were the interpretations that some in the US heaped upon the tragedy that it was God’s divine punishment for sin.

Now, today, the circle closes upon itself; the snakes swallows its tail. Hundreds of tweets (perhaps more) decorated the twitter-verse displaying joy and glee over the disaster in Saudi Arabia. These are equally sickening, disgusting, and intolerable. So, too, were the interpretations that suggested that it was the divine wrath of Allah.

No amount of pseudo-philosophy and vapid thinking on either side is going to replace the fundamental aspects of the human condition. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Perhaps even more fundamental, we are all some mix of good and bad and it isn’t clear to the end of the story just what our lives amounted to. So, please, think carefully about what interpretation you are attaching to the events that occur and try, please try, to see everyone as the miracle of humanity that they are.

Speaking of the miracle of the human creature, Aristotle to Digital once again looks the problem of representations, the treachery of images, and the power of imagination, and finds that the latter human faculty is truly a remarkable one.

About Comics begins its review of Peter David’s book on writing comics and graphic novels. In this first-of-two series, the focus is on his thoughts about character, conflict, and theme.

Common Cents considers what appears to be a meltdown in the Chinese financial markets. Is the end nigh or is it more doom saying? The analysis may surprise you.

And in the last column, Under the Hood continues tinkering with the Laplace Transform. What functions possess a Laplace Transform and how this relates to the Fourier Transform and causality are the questions addressed.

Enjoy.

I must admit that this time of the year is always fun…or it used to be. Time was when I would hunker down with the NFL rosters, a fantasy football magazine (who know the kind that say “Rule Your Draft” or something equally bombastic), and a spreadsheet. Statistics would be entered, models and fits tinkered with, and the optimal draft order determined. The only considerations were weighing new talent against old, strength of schedules, and coaching changes. I never did particularly badly but never won it all.

Over the years, I’ve given up on the numeric side of things and have been paying greater attention to the people side. How is the locker room chemistry, how desperate is management to get rid of a big salary cap issue, how disgruntled or downright anti-social is a player. These have been the focus and I must say that I’ve been doing much better.

But with the NFL in its current state, I’m wondering if I need to start looking at the number of legal briefs drafted, the number of motions filed with the federal court, and what interactions are happening between the NFL front office, the Player’s Association, the NLRB, and some judge somewhere who may or may not be overruling some judgement rendered by some other bigwig.

Now let me be clear, I don’t know and, frankly, I don’t care if Tom Brady plays or doesn’t. I really don’t care if he cheated or he didn’t. The NFL has a long history of teams ‘cheating’ in all sorts of ways. If old anecdotes are to be believed, teams look for every little edge they can get. Want to make the opposing team uncomfortable as they sit, make their sideline bench too short. Want to make them too hot, stick them on the sunny side of the field with the sun shining in their eyes. And so on it goes. Why deflated footballs matter when both teams were using them is a mystery to me. Or perhaps only the Patriots were – who knows and who cares. The point here is that fairness in the NFL is like the proverbial elephant in the room. Focus on something else.

One last note, the demise of the NFL is on the horizon if this continues much longer. No industry can long prevail once the wretched ambulance chasers and insufferable word stretchers get too strong a hold. What was it that Shakespeare said about the lawyers?

Well, until the legal beagles figure out a way to take our free speech rights from us at Blog Wyrm, we’ll continue to provide our weekly content.

This week, Aristotle to Digital ponders how a small footnote can lead to a big idea and an uncomfortable one at that. Find out all you ever wanted to know about deductivism and the great lengths that some go to make everything logical.

About Comics completes its two-part look at Denny O’Neil’s book on writing comics the DC way. This installment covers his ideas on the large format undertakings, including graphic novels, miniseries, and more.

Common Cents takes a critical look at some recent economics analysis that suggests that not all billionaires are created equally. Cronyism is identified as the deciding factor in separating the sheep from the goats and while we agree with the conclusions we are skeptical of the method.

Finally, Under the Hood sets its sites on a prolonged engagement with the Laplace Transform. Long considered the darling of the controls engineer, the Laplace Transform has always taken a back seat to the Fourier Transform in the halls of physics. Under the Hood is determined to find out just why.

Enjoy.

Okay, we know that the official arrival of fall isn’t for another 3-4 weeks and that the days are still hot, but… 1) kids are back in school, 2) the days are getting noticeably shorter (it’s dark when we wake up), and 3) football is ready to burst into our living rooms and onto our home theater setups every weekend. So yes, a hint of fall is in the air even if the leaves are still green. And as we ease into the waning of the year, isn’t comforting to know that Blog Wyrm is back from it’s summer hiatus.

This week, Aristotle to Digital examines the very slippery idea of representations and representation theory and dives into the question ‘when is the image of a thing also the same as the thing itself?’

About Comics continues its epic exploration of the ideas, the philosophies, the theories and the tricks of the trade that go into making a good story. Focus for this column is Part One of Denny O’Neil’s book on writing comics the DC way.

Original research is at the heart of this week’s Common Cents. As the layers of the onion are peeled back from the old saw that the US uses more than it’s fair share of energy, Common Cents finds that a very different story of energy efficiency emerges.

Finally, Under the Hood returns with one last hurrah on the Lie Series front. In this week’s offering, the techniques for turning a non-autonomous system into an autonomous one are showcased in the clear example of a particle subjected to a time-varying driving force.

Enjoy.

As the summer hiatus comes to a close and Blog Wyrm gears up to resume its usual full publishing load, it is interesting to note that this volume is number 33. The number 33 is an interesting number. Numeralogically, it is the product of two very elegant prime numbers – 3 and 11. That alone raises it to special significance. Phonetically, saying ‘thirty-three’ as a nice ring to it. A perhaps the most interesting of all the occurrences of 33 is the mysterious placement of that number on the label of Rolling Rock beer. While we at Blog Wyrm are fairly certain that the inclusion of the number 33 on each and every bottle and can is due to the fact that prohibition was repealed in 1933 we applaud the brewmasters of Latrobe for keeping the air of mystery alive. Its a beautiful example of celebrating not only a product but the lifestyle into which it fits. The Rolling Rock folk know their customers.

And we at Blog Wyrm like to think we know our audience as well. So starting next week, Under the Hood, Aristotle to Digital, and Common Cents columns will resume publication. About Comics will also continue.

Speaking of About Comics, this week’s column looks at a short comic ‘how to’ published by Marvel in 2005 for Free Comic Book Day. Perhaps what is the most interesting aspect is not what this 8-page whirlwind introduction says but rather what it omits and the implications that follow. Maybe we are reading to much into it, but it seems that maybe Marvel has decided that story takes precedence over visuals and substance over style. Read and see if you agree.

Enjoy.

Our apologies this week for being late with the intro page here at Blog Wyrm. One of our staff members is college bound and several last minute things came up. The rest of the staff is excited for our new freshman but it isn’t clear if he is excited, overwhelmed, or just a bit on the ‘can we just get this over with’ side. Anyway, our light summer schedule continues with only a few columns inking an entry.

About Comics‘s closes out its study of Alan Moore with a survey of his work on Swamp Thing. Long regarded as a revolutionary change in how comics are done, Moore’s tenure on Swamp Thing changed standards, launched the famous Vertigo line, and directly lead to The Watchmen. Take a peek and see if all the hype is worth it.

Over the years, many different people have tried to explain what makes a good story, why one film succeeds where another with the same plot fails. The good news is Greenscreen has the answer. The “bad” news is it might not be the answer you’re expecting. What’s this about vegetables?

Enjoy.

Usually this time of the year is known as the dog days of summer but do you really know where that term came from. The Blog Wyrm staff had no idea why late July and early August were termed that so we delved into the furthest corners of the internet in search of answers. One Google search later we had more hits than we knew what to do with. Being particularly industrious, we choose the first item returned and read with fascination that the dog days of summer actually spans from July 3rd to August 11th. Its name is credited to Mediterranean origin and supposedly corresponds to the 20 days before and after the conjunction between the star Sirius and the sun. This is according to both Wikipedia and Fact Monster. History.com adds some additional detail when they noted that the ancient Greeks noticed that the most intense part of summer occurred during this span. The fact that all three sources used the unusual word ‘sultry’ to describe these days leads us at Blog Wyrm to really wonder about the independent sourcing of these pieces but what do we know, we’re in a daze.

This daze seems to have carried over into the majority of the staff this week. Our only column is the continuation of About Comics‘s study of the story construction process of Alan Moore, who claims that he just isn’t that interested in plotting his stories. Are we pulling your leg or is this outrageous claim true? Read and find out.

Enjoy.

Well summer is winding down. Yes, we said it. Summer is coming to a close. Yes, yes, yes, we at Blogwyrm are quite aware that the end of summer coincides with the autumnal equinox in late September. But whenever you have to contemplate heading back to school, summer is starting to be over. Whenever pre-season football is starting up and reminders to renew your fantasy league are being sent, summer is winding down. Whenever new fall fashions in both clothes and TV schedules are being tossed at you left and right in advertising, summer is calling it quits.

Despite that somber note, Blog Wyrm will continue to offer fun columns to fill out what remains of this all-too-short season.

About Comics takes a look at the story construction process of Alan Moore. Known for his work on Swamp Thing, the Watchmen, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore is certainly creative. How does he frame his stories? Read and find out.

The most well known American bike racer is now just another athlete to use drugs. So how did we get here? We take a look back to the rise and fall of one of America’s favorite athletes in this issue of Ballgame>/a>.

Yes, Scott Lang, it is too late to change the name, because Ant-Man currently has a well-deserved place in the public eye. This week’s Greenscreen takes a brief look at what makes Ant-Man and Marvel so successful.

If you’re trying to close the distance in a match in a fighting game, odds are you’ll have to deal with projectiles whose sole purpose are to keep you away. If it’s the other way around, you’ll have to learn how to use projectiles of your own to keep them away as best as you can. This week’s Pretzel Motion examines both perspectives and gives a brief primer on different varieties of projectiles.

Enjoy.

Well the Blog Wyrm staff is on its annual visit to Otakon. For those who don’t know, Otakon is one of the largest anime conventions in the United States. As a gathering of people with similar interests, Otakon is quite impressive. Its sheer size and pageantry is amazing. But what strikes us at Blog Wyrm is the diversity in people. Different races, nationalities, economic status, genders, and types of people participate by the thousands. Generally, everyone gets along quite politely and respectfully and the biggest ‘conflicts’ occur over matters of taste and aesthetic.

This week, Blog Wyrm continues with its contribution to respectful sharing of views and opinions.

Part four of the ongoing About Comics series examines The Wicked + The Divine. This modern comic stand somewhat in contrast to the earlier approaches examined in that there is a greater emphasis placed on the style of the page rather than the substance of the story.

Love the outdoors? Out looking for a new hobby? Try your hand at geocaching. Don’t know what that is? Take a look at this week’s Ballgame and found out about this growing hobby.

Shaken, not stirred. James Bond defined a film genre back in the day, but that day has long since passed. Or has it? Mosey on over to Greenscreen and read about Kingsman, a fresh and exciting take on the gentleman spy. It’s got it all: action, comedy, romance, Samuel L. Jackson, and, of course, martinis.

The post-grad life is hard. Dead-end minimum wage jobs, career applications up to here, and few prospects on the horizon. Tidbits narrates the process (humorously, we hope) with some of Jack’s personal experiences and observations.

Enjoy!

We at Blog Wyrm are deeply saddened by the violent incidents that have happened in South Carolina and in Tennessee. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the family and friends involved, who are grieving and in pain. Our thoughts are also constantly with those families who are effect by violence but who are not noticed on the public stage. These are the victims of the ‘slow and steady’ pace of violence rather than those involved in the ‘big events’. It saddens us that many residents in the poorer sections of the large cities live with these type of events on a day-to-day basis without even the comfort that the rest of the country is aware of their plight. That’s the bad part. The good part is that we can change this. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies not in our media outlets but in us. If we consumed the media in a much more reasonable way and demanded substantive coverage rather than shocking fluff, real change might actually be affected.

Anyway, this week Blog Wyrm continues to bring informative and columns without the big media hype.

Part three of the ongoing About Comics series examines how Neil Gaiman built his award-winning Sandman comics. In contrast to the EC-method, Gaiman’s approach is much more writer-centric.

In a fighting game, your attacks take up real space in the game. Often times, people get wrapped up in the longer range attacks without considered whether or not it’s safe to use those moves. This week’s Pretzel Motion is a primer on spacing, the footsies-related concept of where to position yourself on the ground and when to use your best attacks.

Enjoy!