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Well the chill is finally in back in the air and the leaves are starting their annual metamorphosis from verdant green to those amazing shades of yellow, gold, orange, rust, crimson, red, and brown. The Blog Wyrm staff had an opportunity to do some driving this week and what we saw was a spectacular demonstration of the subtle beauty of nature. Thousands of trees and millions of leaves pay silent, splendid homage to the wonder that is the natural world. We were left with a profound respect to the gentle but irrepressible way that life moves around us. Truly awe-inspiring.

Speaking of awe-inspiring, we would like to believe that our weekly columns are awe-inspiring but we really are just hoping that they are thought provoking and enjoyable.

Common Cents takes a long look at a doom-laden prophesy but one of the better-known economists of modern times, Lawrence Summers, and finds that he may be right about how to fix the global economy but for all the wrong reasons.

Aristotle to Digital introduces a new ongoing theme in its scope on philosophy, computing, and logic. The subject is the philosophically tricky concept of double effect. The lens through which it is examined, the detective story.

Finally, About Comics examines the curious re-launch of two of comics most famous magicians: DC’s John Constantine and Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Oddly enough, the advertising copy of both books seems to have been written by the same agency with both of them emphasizing that ‘magic has a cost’. Read and find out why?

Enjoy!

When it rains it pours. So goes the old saying and it just may have a point. After a relative dry summer, complete with desiccated, brown grass, and trees that are dropping prematurely yellow leaves well ahead of schedule, the rain is back and with a bit of a vengeance. Tropical Storm Joaquin morphed into category 4 hurricane fairly quickly and its path is still a bit uncertain as we head into the weekend. We at Blog Wyrm hope and pray for the safety and comfort of all in its path (even though we are grateful for the much needed rain).

Speaking of rain, its a good thing that there is Federally subsidized flood insurance for people who live in flood zones. Or is it? Common Cents looks at the moral hazard that such insurance can cause when the subsidy encourages people to build in places where common sense suggests you shouldn’t.

Aristotle to Digital examines the question of how time is represented. Originally defined in terms of motion, the representation of time has become, over the years, more and more abstract. Is there a point where we should abandon our notions of continuous time?

It’s off to the Baltimore Comic Con as About Comics gives the Blog Wyrm staff’s impressions from one of the bigger gatherings in the world of comic books – attracting creators, fans, and cosplayers from all over the East coast to Charm City.

Tidbits is back this week, admittedly a little worse for wear. It turns out that maybe that new job wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Finally, Under the Hood continues on, perhaps at a snail’s pace, looking into the Laplace Transform. This week, the Laplace Transform is applied to a simple but real system of equations – the ever popular simple harmonic oscillator.

Enjoy.

This week has seen some tremendous changes on the US political landscape. The Pope journeyed from the Vatican to address Congress. Hardly a day elapsed and then we hear reports stating that the Speaker of the House is stepping down sometime in October. And finally, yet another government shutdown looms on the horizon.

But I would like to pose a question. Does any of this really matter? If each of us focuses on trying to make the world around us a bit better by putting someone else’s needs before our own, would we really need spiritual leaders, politicians, and government bureaucracies? Would a lot of little things done over a long period of time be a whole lot more palatable? Just a thought.

Well this week, Blog Wyrm has plenty of food for thought.

Under the Hood delves into one of the more baffling and strange looking – but very useful concepts – the convolution integral. An indispensable part of Laplace ad Fourier Transform theory, convolution still borders on the weird and mysterious for most of us. Hopefully, this weeks column will help dispel a little of the mystery

What do Pink Floyd and the Federal Reserve have in common? Common Cents argues that they have more in common than may first be thought. Read and find out what.

Aristotle to Digital takes another looks at the logic and humor of Yogi Berra, who passed away this week at the age of 90. At the heart of Yogi’s witty remarks is a skillful and playful use of natural language – especially equivocation.

And rounding out this week’s offering, About Comics finishes its examination of the comics how-to book by Peter David. Come and join the analysis of plot, script, the three-act form, and word balloons.

Enjoy.

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.