Uncategorized

As a nation, we’ve now passed the Election – 1-year mark. I was already sick of the incessant chattering and poor logic by our ‘media pundits’, who hear what they want to hear and report on things not said. I suppose it is only going to get worse but sigh… one can hope. I don’t mind vigorous debate and sharply delineated lines but when it is based on distortion and the need to be noticed, I draw the line. Can’t we have a civil discussion where we are all fair even if we are not friends?

Well there is nothing unfair in our columns this week.

About Comics looks at Grant Morrison’s new title Nameless. Part horror epic, part Jungian archetypal story, part semiotics in visual representation, it is a grand idea that falls short.

Imagine that you’ve bought a product online and when it arrives it isn’t at all what the seller said it would be. Suppose that when you tried to return it they ignored you. You would be angry and willing to share your nightmare with the rest of the world. For some people in the same position who find out that their purchase involved a term-of-service restriction to their online free speech that’s when the nightmare begins. Common Cents talks about the need for a free flow of information in an economy and how proposed legislation would help protect our right to yelp.

Trying to make a logical decision is hard. It is harder still when qualitative aspects are involved and more than one person is charged with deciding. Aristotle to Digital examines the Analytic Hierarchy Process way of coming up with a logically supported rationale.

Finally, Under the Hood peaks a bit more at the benefits of dividing a matrix up into column and row arrays. Come see how coordinate transformations, physical units, orthogonal matrices, and eigenvalue all link together.

Enjoy!

Well today in the nation’s capitol the temperatures topped out in the mid- to upper 70s. The temperature is currently higher than in Pasadena, California. It was a nice days for a walk and so that’s just what I did. Walked and thought and enjoyed the fall foliage under a warm summer sky. Go figure.

Some of the thoughts that have been brewing over the last week made it to this week’s issue.

What is the difference between equality and fairness? In the economic circles these two terms tend to get conflated but they are quite different. Common Cents looks at some of these differences and how they weave a great deal of behavioral economics together.

Building on the theme from last week, Aristotle to Digital looks at a subtle shade of difference between how a thing is done – technique, and what is picked to be done – judgment.

About Comics reviews a newly-found addition to the Wild, Weird, West genre – the Sixth Gun.

Finally, Under the Hood looks at how dividing a matrix up into column and row arrays gives some general relations for matrices and their inverses.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween. To celebrate the nation’s second largest holiday, Blog Wyrm brings you a special issue this week. It is short and sweet, just like Halloween candy – the Blog Wyrm staff is off to have some fun.

There is a well-known debate over how much language effects thought and thought effects language. This week Aristotle to Digital ponders the possibility how we wurf the web reflects how we think and vice versa.

About Comics relates a personal perspective on the rise of comics culture as reflected by the new companion event – Halloween ComicFest.

Can trade create wealth? Common Cents believes so and uses Halloween candy to make the argument.

Finally, Under the Hood presents the final form of the equations used by the controls engineer.

Enjoy!

The reason for last week’s missed deadline can finally be revealed – the Blog Wyrm staff has just spent the last week across the pond in the German city of Munich. As might be expected, some things are really nice and other make us long for home. The people are generally polite and well ordered but we were really surprised by the number of smokers. All walks of life and all demographics are seen to light up on a fairly regular basis. In this respect, it was like stepping back in time to the 1960s. In other respects, they do several things much better. Especially convenient is the way that credit card purchases are done, especially in restaurants, where the waiters bring those small devices to the table to settle the check.

Munich itself is a lovely and clean city. It has a strange but delightful mix of old-world buildings and culture grafted with the globalized reach of modern business. It is not uncommon to see American exports, like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut built into buildings that date back hundreds of years and which once formed the castles or walls for the core portion of the city.

But enough of Munich. Returning closer to home, we have a nice set of columns this week.

At the top of the list, Green Screen gives a thoughtful review of the new movie Crimson Peak. This Gothic piece by Guillermo del Toro seems to have done a lot of things the right way and Green Screen is only too happy to talk about it.

Common Cents examines the recent move by Gravity Payments’ CEO Dan Price to set a minimum salary for all his employees. Perhaps this is the long-hoped-for control experiment that will help settle the controversy over the minimum wage.

What does the new comic Negative Space have in common with the old 1988 cult classic They Live? About Comics thinks a great deal. Read to find out why.

Is it ever wrong to killer a killer? Does it matter how you do it or why? Aristotle to Digital wrestles with these questions as it examines the actions of the robust and rotund fictional detective Nero Wolfe in the case of The Red Box.

Finally, Under the Hood looks at the most favorite approximation of the controls engineer – linearization. After all, when the only tool you have is a Laplace Transform every system tends to look linear.

Enjoy!

Well… no new posts this week (other than this one). Life sometimes gets in the way and this week is one of those. No one thing is traceable as the culprit – more like the death of a thousand cuts. But… all this hectic activity is behind us and the Blog Wyrm staff will be publishing a new issue next week.

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.