Working From My Smartphone Part 2

This is a continuation of my post located Working From My Smartphone Part 1. This post will be updated many times in the next few days.

Friday 3:44 PM

At least one friend has misunderstood something I said.  Although I am interested in living off the main power, because it is too expensive, that does not mean that I want to live off the grid. I want internet access.  I want to interact with more people, not less.  I hate being a hermit, I have hated it for years. Internet access is not the same as visiting friends down at the neighborhood café.

Friday 4:20 PM

My little experiment on using minimal medication is working well.  The idea is that if I can get the medication use down even more, then not only do I save money but it makes things like trips to China much more possible.  It requires my maintaining a Zen like attitude of acceptance which is not all that easy for me, to say the least.  I have noticed that a minimum dose of medication helps a lot to avoid the normal panic attacks (that come from such things as anxiety about money).  In other words, a minimum dose is clearly much better than none at all, even if the small dose means that I am still exhibiting rampant ADD/ADHD symptoms.  What was I talking about again?

OK, I am going home to look for my missing power supply for the external disk enclosure so I can get my resume off the main disk of my computer. No one in their right mind would ever want to type that resume in from scratch.

By the way, Mercury is very retrograde.

That could explain everything.

More later.

Working From My Smartphone Part 1

This post will be updated many times in the next few days.  It records my progress and thoughts as I go through this little experiment in semi-homelessness.

To make a virtue of necessity, we are trying to see what it would be like to essentially live out of one's car (even though I do sleep in my normal house and bed).  That means using a smartphone, no local AC sockets, and going elsewhere for WIFI and electricity (except for what I can charge from my car such as my smartphone).

5:24 pm Thursday

I am able to charge my smartphone from my car battery without running the car. Have ice box / cooler operational with food. Want to see how long two 10 lb blocks if ice keeps things cool.  jzp recommends 60.00 $US Coleman stove with wind protection.

1:21 PM Friday

An oddly productive day.  Since I never get out of the house normally, because I do not want to
spend any money, I have no idea of local resources.  But in fact our local library has excellent computer and internet access, as well as places to plug in the phone.  So the question becomes, since I am almost nearly independent of power anyway, do I really want it back on?

I also found a wonderful little café filled with nice people (I can afford maybe a glass of tea) and a barber who charges only $5.00 more for a haircut than Smartcuts.  All very pleasant and suggestive that I do myself a disservice by staying in the house all the time.

The money should arrive today for gasoline and medication. I am afraid I have particularly inconvenienced a friend by requesting a modest loan.  Apparently he was saying "no" all the time he was saying "yes".  Then as I pressed him more and more (power out and all) he got weirder and weirder.  Finally, I figured out he just did not know how to say "no" to me.  In fact, everyone has different limits on how much they can or will help friends, and I am just embarrassed that I did not 'pick up' on what he was really saying sooner.  I am usually more perceptive than that. 

One thought is that the situation is so appalling and ridiculous and I am so embarrassed bothering people for money, that it turns off lots of other circuitry.

3:28 PM Friday

The local library has excellent WIFI and readily available computers with real keyboards.  It is so much easier to work on my blog from here than to try and do it from my smartphone. 

The big issue is "now that I have the money to restore power, do I really want to?"  After all, this issue was caused by a combination of events including the mistake of attending SIGGRAPH and three different projects going away or being delayed.  Well, although I have avoided this sort of meltdown for years, the fact is that it was always very close.  So maybe it would be better to keep the power off, buy an occasional block of ice, and a pack of batteries, and just go visit my local library and save all that money on the corrupt local monopoly which is SDGE.

More later.

This post is continued in Part 2 here.

Diplomatic Protocol for Asgardians and Americans

Americans just had an extraordinary example of public rudeness by the People's Republic of China towards President Obama at the G20 conference in Beijing, an incident whose ramifications are not yet completely understood. But there is one thing that we, the public, can know without hacking Hillary's email server: that the offense against the American President was not an accident but a deliberate statement of the Chinese ruling elite indicating their contempt for Obama, and symbolically, for America and the American people.

We know it was not an accident because anyone familiar with diplomatic protocol knows just how far in advance and in what detail such nuances as “red carpet” exit ramps are prepared. “In exquisite detail and with the utmost seriousness” is one way I have heard the process described.

Nothing, repeat nothing, is left to chance.

In this matter we are instructed, as we are in so many things, by the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU).

The student of alien relations must notice that the various races and civilizations of the MCU are generally not very diplomatic. They seem to enthusiastically shoot at one another, invade across dimensional portals, fly around in speeder cars shooting arrows, throwing rocks, and dropping cities on innocent tax payers.

Perhaps things would be more peaceful and loving if some diplomacy was observed.

We do have one example of such diplomacy in Thor: The Dark World (2013) on the occasion of the visit of two Asgardians on a secret mission of great importance, perhaps even more important than the occasion of Obama at the G20 conference.

How do we greet an Asgardian? A hearty handshake? Do we say “Howdy Partner!” and take off our hats? Here are the stages that I have noted in greeting two important Asgardians engaged as they are on a secret mission.

First, your slave girl brings the honored guests into your presence, looking very proper and pleased, if a little stiff, probably thrilled at the occasion.

Second, she gestures first with her right hand, then with her left hand, then makes a half turn, and a half curtsey on one knee, and announce you to the guests, saying “I present to you Taneleer Tivan, The Collector”.

Third, you, the host, pretends to be surprised at the arrival of such honored beings, and recognizing them, exclaim with total sincerity “Asgardians! Its an honor!” while performing the following flourishes:

- bring your hands together in front of you, elbows bent, palms facing the guests

- with your hands in this position do a half bow,

- flip your hands such that palms are facing you

- complete the bow to a full bow and holding the bow, extend your arms outstretched to the sides in greeting

You can be sure that our Asgardians know that they are truly welcome and can proceed with their mission.

Failure to comply with such courtesies is a deliberate insult, as all Asgardians, and now all Americans, know.

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The State Department's Protocol for the Modern Diplomat

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176174.pdf

Thor: The Dark World (2013) on IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/

The Fabulous Imagery of the Anima Sola

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Rarely does a phrase result in so much evocative imagery as the term Anima Sola. Well known to those of a Roman Catholic bent, the Anima Sola refers to the lonely soul who suffers in Purgatory as the sins of mortal existence are expunged so that they can ascend to heaven. Those of us who did not grow up in a Roman Catholic home or neighborhood are perhaps not so aware of the significance of the term and its associated imagery even though we have probably seen some of the images without knowing what we were looking at.

In reviewing the Anima Sola and related concepts as part of research in belief systems about hell and punishment for sin, a topic of great personal interest to me, I came across a number of wonderful variations on this theme, and wanted to decorate my blog with them.

As always with images taken from the Internet, provenance and ownership are fluid. I have listed below what I believe are the sources for the images exhibited here. And there are many more fabulous interpretations of this concept available at those links.

A reader of this blog, esteemed pioneer of computer animation, Julian Gomez, has asked why these portraits all seem to represent women.  I have wondered this myself, and I will have to do more research. You can see our dialogue in the comments section.

I suspect that a more thorough understanding of the ideas behind the images will be necessary to really understand what is going on here.

This is one of my favorites.  Notice the hacksaw to cut through the chains.  No passive suffering here!

http://royal-farr.livejournal.com/132436.html

http://www.enchanted-visions.net/anima-sola.html

http://marialionzaguaicapuronegrofelipe.blogspot.com/2014/06/oracion-del-anima-sola-para-peticiones.html

https://www.pinterest.com/theofrastus/anima-sola/

http://magdalenelaundrytestimony.org/stigmata/4520426924

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CICM9P2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Burning Man Live Stream 2016

Live stream from Burning Man for the next 8 hours or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8_CLY3fAo&feature=youtu.be

Photoshop and the Ethics of Reverse Manipulation

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At this point we are all inundated with obviously and not so obviously faked images that have passed through a photoshop session.  What would Facebook be without a suitably cropped and modified photograph per day with some obnoxious political agenda attached? Even so, although our news media outlets are notorious for manipulating the news and evidence, there are some of us who would like to think that they keep it to a minimum and unconscious level.

But what happens when we have a news story with an attached photograph that is almost certainly, obviously modified?  Should it be used anyway, or modified, faked if you will, to be less apparently false?

Is lying allowed if it increases the likelihood that an otherwise true story will be believed?

We have a particularly egregious example in the photograph used in the Reuters article about a recently convicted arsonist, see German Man Convicted of Setting Dozens of Fires in Los Angeles.

Oh, those fiery eyes! 

This is an entertaining example of a photograph that looks faked for editorial purposes even if, by some strange chance, it turns out not to be faked  How likely is it that the alleged (and now convicted) arsonist should happen to get "red eye" in this circumstance?

Anyone looking at it, though, might reasonably think it had been modified, and therefore, perhaps it should have been modified, possibly for a second time, to make it appear less manipulated even if by doing so it was in reality more manipulated.  Or would this be even worse, hiding from the public as it were the evidence of the original modification?

For those of you interested in the history of manipulating photographs for evidence or political purposes and are unaware that it has a long tradition, you could do worse than start by reading David King's acclaimed book “The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia” which you may find on that great evader of Austrian sausage taxes, Amazon.com.

https://www.amazon.com/Commissar-Vanishes-Falsification-Photographs-Stalins/dp/0805052941

Believe it or else, this is an important topic in the aesthetics and practice of visual effects.  In visual effects we often have the problem that something  that is correct (either in real life or because our simulation says it is correct) looks wrong.  And in visual effects, something that looks wrong will not achieve its purpose with the audience and will call attention to itself in an undesirable manner.

Now on the other hand, if our purpose was to show our convicted arsonist had been possessed by the Devil, then this photograph, modified or not, would have been just fine.

Is Austria Overtaxing Its Sausage Stands?

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Any right thinking American, upon reading the baseless Austrian complaint against those pillars of American Industry, Starbucks and Amazon, must wonder if Austria is not indeed demanding too much taxes from its sausage stands.

You may read their horrible accusation here in Reuters.

In America, we know to never tax our corporations, from which everything good in our society originates, but instead we put the burden on the worthless people, even those who do not work. These are the scum that should pay taxes. And if they do not work, then they should pay *more* taxes, not less, it seems to me, to make up for their indolence.

Indeed, we know that when the corporation takes out its most virtuous Sausage it will bring forth blessings and goodness that will “trickle down” onto the heads of all of us, both politicians and citizens. To tax the corporation is a sin, because it restricts this flow of corporate goodness.

All politicians in America know this, and so they wait anxiously by the trough of the corporations, yapping like newborn birds for their nourishment directly from this All-Beneficent Sausage. We call this most healthy flow “the political donation” but which might better be called the “Food of the Gods”, the very life-blood of our political system and the American Way..

Therefore let Austria learn from us, and learn the wisdom of freeing the corporation from this pernicious burden, these so-called taxes, which if left unchecked might affect shareholder value.

The Struggle for Dominance Between Lingerie Clad Special Agents

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If it is true, as some say, that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is being used as a metaphor for our civilization, then we would expect to see certain signs that show that its purpose and attributes are of the highest order.

There can be no compromise in art, certainly not in fine art, which this purports to be. But can we say that all the Marvel Cinematic Universe aspires to this pinnacle of excellence? Sure it might be true for the movies, but what about the “television” spin offs? Whatever, that is, "television" may mean in the era of the bold new Internet paradigm that has put the knife into the heart of what we used to call “broadcast”.

I am happy to report that I have seen excellent evidence that even the lesser manifestations of the MCU, the television version, is clearly aspiring to the highest aesthetics of our cinema. I am still working my way through the back episodes, but very early on in the Second Season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, I came across a sequence that proved to me that indeed there was a lot of very serious thought and ideas behind this show.

What convinced me was the sequence in Season 2, Episode 4 in which Hydra disguises one of their agents as Coulson's sidekick, May, thus setting up a most excellent encounter between the anti-May and real/good May in the form of an extensive “catfight”.

As we all know, the catfight is an honored trope of exploitative B movies. Two women beating the shit out of each other in scanty outfits have contributed to the cinema since the very early days and have a special place in the heart of the American adolescent male. A stronger statement could be made about the value of the catfight to contemporary cinema and aesthetics.  I believe that it should be rated much higher than it is and be considered on the same level as a fight between giant robots or a 15 minute car chase (how old-fashioned!) When properly executed with vigor and imagination, it can greatly contribute to the cinematic experience.

Important examples of the genre include the fight between Sharon Stone and Rachel Ticotin in Total Recall (1990) (see here) and Charlize Therone and Teri Hatcher in Two Days in the Valley (1994).  (see on youtube here). When critics discuss what was important about these two movies, they often refer to these memorable sequences.

In the following images we begin with the good May in bondage in her lingerie who first must escape in order to confront the impostor.

As a practical note, for those of you interested in how these sequences of trick photography are achieved, notice that somehow we do not see a representation of a "nipple" in spite of the flimsy lingerie and tremendous exertions of the two competing women, one in lingerie/slip and the other in her revealing evening gown. No shallow exploitation of the female form that might endanger a general audience rating here. You can be sure that some special effort was required to achieve this.

Meanwhile the bad May has stolen the good May's evening gown to try to fool Agent Coulson, but it doesn't work. This sets up the climactic encounter between good and evil, real May vs bad May, who slug it out.  Of course this is all played by one actress, at least one stunt double, and the power of visual effects.  Note the use of wires in one part of the struggle, as well as the true hatred between the two women, who are, of course, in real life, one and the same.

Now that I know what is being offered here, I look forward to reviewing the rest of the series. Greatness may lie within even the humble Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2364582/

Total Recall (1990) on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/

Two Days in the Valley (1994) on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115438/

Design of the Modern Home: Human Sacrifice

I have several friends who are designing their new home and even one friend who has started a business to create affordable, stylish and sustainable housing.

Although I have not been asked to contribute, I am so jealous of these friends of mine that I can not help but think of what I might build if I had the funds, in other words, if I had not made the tragic decision to go into Computer Animation, a decision which clearly destroyed my life, and deprived me of the material success necessary to create one's own home.

This “thought experiment” about design and living has led to many productive questions and issues, including but not limited to the issues of whether one should provide living quarters for the slaves or whether or not it makes sense to prepare now for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse and build defensive structures into our homes.

And from time to time I come across good visual support material to help stimulate ideas and contribute perhaps to the design process.

Along those lines, here is an image from the film Sherlock Holmes (2009) near the beginning of the film in which Holmes and Watson thwart a human sacrifice in London.

I think this room gives a good impression of a venue for ancient evil and provides an appropriate place for the sacrifice of an unspoiled maiden, the first fruits of the harvest as it were, to the ancient Gods.  You don't want to be cavalier about human sacrifice, that would show disrespect. You would not want to just cut someone's throat by the pool or on a patio, but should prepare a special place for this purpose. There are some details here of course which will guide the design as, for example, if one is recreating ancient Aztec practices and plan to rip the still beating heart out of the victim, then one would need to provide for better blood drainage, presumably.  

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Sherlock Holmes (2009) on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/

Administrative Note: The "Conclusions" Category on Global Wahrman

We announce here a new category, or tag, for Global Wahrman, the so-called “conclusions” category.

One purpose of Global Wahrman is to explore a variety of ideas and beliefs about such things as the role of the Illuminated Masters in determining algorithms for Google, the failure of the cultural myth, the role of corruption in our civic governance and whether our politicians are motivated directly by Satan or merely *appear* to be motivated by Satan. These are just a few examples of the ideas that we discuss here on Global Wahrman.  

But from time to time, I think it is fair to say that we reach conclusions, or proximate conclusions, about these weighty and complex issues, and want to mark these posts as being of particular interest. Such posts will be marked with the “Conclusions” tag. Eventually these posts will also be collected and put in some category on the right hand side of the blog to also make them easier to find.

As an example of this, consider Globalization and Its Discontents which discusses the role of our government in the collapse of the American economy.  Although perhaps not the final statement on the culpability of our government in this collapse, it is certainly a partial statement on this topic. Did our government know full well that their policies would impoverish millions of Americans in order to increase the profits of the rich?  Of course they did.

So while the term "Conclusions" is a little overblown, it is fair I think to identify these posts as being a little less speculative and of greater interest to those who want some of the ideas of this blog boiled down, distilled as it were, into a relatively few posts.