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Author Archives: gmcdavid
Quiet Weekend
The big accomplishment was getting to the Health Club twice, after being away for longer than I care to think about. Managed 1/2 hour on the exercise bike both times, followed by some weight work.
Also spent some time at Kinko’s, photocopying parts of a couple books I had obtained by Interlibrary Loan, of possible interest to members of colgaffneyis. Continue reading
Week of Odds and Ends
Saturday morning
Today is mia_mcdavid‘s birthday, as lsanderson very promptly noted. Continue reading
Made it to the weekend
Protected: Some good luck
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Three less books
Sold via Amazon: The Medieval Soldier: 15th Century Campaign Life Recreated in Colour Photographs. Nice military history book with lots of photographs of reenactors. Having recently gotten involved in historical reenactment myself, I did not want to part with it. However the price I got ($62) is hard to argue with.
Earlier this week I sold my copy of Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar for $45. From childhood, growing up near the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, I have been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and the surrounding regions. However, I have way too many interests, and know now I have to make some choices about how far to follow each of them.
Likewise Sneddon’s The Use of Integral Transforms ($25). This is a textbook on advanced applied mathematics, and so closer to my formal studies. However, I have several other books that cover similar subjects, none of which will fetch me anything worthwhile on the used market (I have checked). So I am keeping those instead.
That’s $132 for the week. Not bad, if you don’t place a value on giving up dreams.
Not just me!
I was driving home from the bus park-and-ride this evening, and, as usual listening to the local Classical station. They played Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyrie”. As always when this happens, I found myself fighting the urge to press down on the accelerator.
Afterward the announcer apologized for playing it during rush hour. It seems someone in the UK did a survey of music that was being played when a driver was in an accident. “Ride of the Valkyrie” was at the top of the list!
Linguistic Profile, and an old radio program.
Since mia_mcdavid mentioned my parents, I gave this a try.
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 70% General American English |
| 15% Upper Midwestern |
| 10% Yankee |
| 5% Midwestern |
| 0% Dixie |
Looks like my mother (from Minnesota) had more influence than my father (South Carolina). Not surprising, especially since my father had been living in the north since well before I was born. I only really noticed his southern accent when he was talking to another Southerner.
The mind can wander in strange directions …. This reminded me of “Shakespearean Baseball”, a comedy routine which was played on Chicago radio station WFMT’s Midnight Special for as long as I can remember. One line goes like this:
“… thou art indeed a southpaw, thy pa is from the South.” (I am a leftie, as was my father).
A quick look at Google led me to the script for “Shakespearean Baseball”. I also found an inferior (IMHO) variant text.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 