Just when I had loads and loads to blog about, I got knocked down by oak pollen. I just knew those trees were hostile. There is too far too much to tell, so here’s just a very quick summary. Equinox Weekend – Inconsolably depressed, and for no good, acceptable (rational) reason. Spiraling outside my will. Surrounded by a wall. Falling down a well. But then… the thunder quieted a little and – between the soundcracks of the whirlwind – I…
The semaphore (four rotating disks of light) atop the Adobe tower in downtown San Jose is indeed transmitting a message. Never heard of a semaphore? There are multiple meanings. In programming, it concerns methodology for mutual exclusion (see “excluded middles” below), parallel processing, and synchronization. Predating the electrical telegraph, the semaphore was defined as an optical telegraph that conveyed information via visual signals – towers with blades, shutters, flags and so on. semaphore I wonder to what extent the Adobe…
I am really looking forward to Thomas Pynchon’s new book Against the Day, which is due out near the end of the year. The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland and Gravity’s Rainbow are already considered classics. This guy is a genius. Vineland is probably my favorite read. The Crying of Lot 49 is a perfect logical construction of undecidability, and if you’ve never read Pynchon, it’s a good place to start. Gravity’s Rainbow is something you have to read to…