|
About This Author
Come closer.
|
Complex Numbers
Complex Numbers
A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number.
The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi.
Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary.
Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty.
October 31, 2010 at 11:23pm October 31, 2010 at 11:23pm
| |
Fun Game to Play:
Whilst at Sunday brunch - preferably outdoors, or near the entrance to the brunch establishment (in my case, Beer Run) - check out each couple who enters, and mentally separate them into four categories:
1) Couple.
2) Friends, just met up for brunch.
3) Hooked up the night before and they decide in the same spirit of spontaneity, "Hey, let's do brunch."
4) Hooked up the night before and one of them so wants to be somewhere else right now...
Hint: game gets more fun after a few Bloody Marys... just don't have so many that you actually tell people you're playing it.
Today, one chick gave it away right off the bat: she was wearing men's style shirt and jeans, and it didn't look like a Halloween costume.
And before you leave, try not to remember that this means that roughly three out of four of them actually got laid the night before  |
October 25, 2010 at 11:46pm October 25, 2010 at 11:46pm
| |
Okay, remember back when I said I used up my concert budget for this year, and if I went to any more, I'd have to cut back on the drinking?
I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
Not really. But there are concerts in December that I just can't pass up.
I was disappointed to find out that Gogol Bordello would not be playing in my town on New Year's Eve this year. But then I found out that Cracker and Southern Culture On The Skids were doing the New Year's Eve show. Goddammit... now I had to buy tickets to that. I've seen both bands live before, and they both ROCK in concert.
Whilst obtaining the tickets, I happened to be on the venue's website just after a new concert was announced: Gogol Bordello. On December 28.
Goddammit.
It's not like I can not go.
Tickets go on sale this Friday.
Fortunately, those shows are local and relatively cheap - $30 for the Cracker/SCOTS concert; I expect GB will be about the same. And I decided not to go to DC for Halloween; sounds fun, but I'd rather blow the money on concerts.
The expensive one is the one I'm flying to Vegas for on December 11... Leonard Cohen at Caesar's Palace. It's the end of his tour, dude's 76 years old, and I might never get the chance again.
Yes, I'm now officially a concert junkie.
Goddammit.
But hey, you only live once, right?
Speaking of which, I'm going to take this opportunity to invite YOU - that is, regular readers of my blog who are WDC members - to come see Gogol Bordello with me on December 28 (a Tuesday). It's your chance to meet Me and indulge in general debauchery (even just seeing them in concert is general debauchery), and find out why I can't stop talking about that band. I figure lots of people don't do much between Christmas and New Year's anyway. As long as it's not sold out and you can get tickets - and transportation and accommodations are up to you. It's general admission, no reserved seating or anything like that.
If no one takes me up on the offer, that's fine, too - like I said, I'm going anyway.
At least Bruce isn't touring this year... |
October 24, 2010 at 11:03pm October 24, 2010 at 11:03pm
| |
Before I get into what I meant to talk about today, a bit of a clarification:
In 1948, an issue of Sky and Telescope provided a misinterpretation of the meaning of "blue moon" that persisted until 1999 - and, in fact, persists to this day. The article in that magazine (which was a printed thing that presaged web pages) gave the definition of a blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month.
That, as I mentioned, turns out to be an error. It turns out that the older, and more correct, meaning for blue moon is the third full moon in a season (as in winter, spring, summer, or fall) that contains four full moons. (Though there are complications with regard to how exactly a season is determined.) This realigns the moon names with their seasonal expectations. By this rule, there will be a blue moon next month,
http://www.inconstantmoon.com/cyc_blue.htm
http://www.panic.com/blog/2009/12/on-calendars/
As a further aside, this is a great example of both how mistakes become quoted as if they were fact, as well as of how the definitions of things can be mutable. In the end, of course, we live in a much different world than the old Farmer's Almanac did, and the cycles of the moon mean little to us in our modern life, when many of us don't even bother to look for the moon, let alone care about its phase (two days past full as I write this), and almost nobody cares about the names of the moon anymore. Hell, even the seasons don't have the hold on us that they used to - not in a world where we can get winter squash in July and green onions in December.
Don't get me wrong; I like technology, especially the technology that put dudes on that very same Moon. I just can't help but feel that we've lost something along the way.
Anyway...
Shawna had the "let's just be friends" talk with Mike yesterday evening. Mike was like "okay." I'm only disappointed because it reduces the amount of vicarious drama in my life. Doesn't make me want to get cable, though. So I guess she was having second thoughts, even though she'd initiated almost all of their activities, including attending Sexy Zombie Jello Wrestling.
I got to thinking about it, and I wondered if she was expecting him to put up a fight, or get angry, or something. I get the impression some women think they need that to validate their own feelings, or whatever. I don't know... seems to me that if he'd tried to convince her otherwise, that would be saying, "you're just a girl and you don't know your own mind," which of course would set the women's movement back further than Sexy Zombie Jello Wresting did. Way I see it, though, if that's the case, he's saved himself a lot of relationship drama.
But what do I know? I'm clearly not qualified to render opinions on relationships. I was just like, "Does that mean we can still hang out with her and just talk?"
He didn't know. Sometimes "let's be friends" means "I just don't want to see you."
Someone needs to write a goddamn dictionary.
Ladies: we're not subtle. Just tell us straight out. It saves us both a lot of hassle, that way. Most of us aren't stalkers, and if you don't want us, we'll pursue one of the three billion other women out there.
I'm having second thoughts, too. I've been working toward putting together Part 2 of Prototype, my NaNovel from two years ago. I figured Part 2 would be this year's NaNo. I've gone through the motions of the wonderful "October Novel Prep Challenge"  by Brandiwyn🎶Prep starts 10/1!  but the characters just aren't speaking to me, this time. I know where I want to take it, but I'm no longer thinking that NaNoWriMo is the appropriate venue for completing Prototype. It's just not going well for me.
There's another idea I've had bouncing around for a few years now, not science fiction but more urban fantasy, which had the working title of Avatars until fucking James Cameron released that goddamn smurf movie, thus ruining the title forever (even though my idea is completely different, and uses the old definition of "avatar.")
I think I'll have time to outline it and get ready to do the actual writing this year - all I have so far are vague ideas about the beginning, some scenes in the middle, the end, the two main characters, and the antagonists. Come to think of it, that's really all I need to start writing, but I'd prefer to go ahead and outline it first.
But it feels like giving up, even though I fully intend to edit and flesh out Prototype at some point... though we all know what my intentions are worth.
I don't know. I feel like I have to decide soon. Like, tomorrow. |
October 22, 2010 at 9:48pm October 22, 2010 at 9:48pm
| |
It's not generally known, but the Full Moon in any particular month is known by a name.
Perhaps the most famous of these is the Harvest Moon, which we were fortunate to have coincide with the Fall Equinox this year - only a few hours apart.
But the Blood Moon is important, too, being the first full moon after the Harvest Moon.
I've heard that it's called such (it's also known as Hunter's Moon, but that name isn't as cool) because it is in October that our ancestors would look at their flocks, make a determination as to how many of them they could feed through the upcoming winter - and butcher the rest, ensuring a sufficient supply of meat over the winter months while optimizing the survival of the bulk of the flock, or herd, or whatever.
It's October, and there's a chill in the air. The other night, for the first time this fall, I saw Orion. Tonight, the moon became full, and it was the Blood Moon.
Winter is coming. |
October 19, 2010 at 10:59pm October 19, 2010 at 10:59pm
| |
...or Cock Block?
So M and S (from the last entry; do try to keep up with this Lifetime Special Presentation) decided tonight was Movie Night... at My House (which, you'll recall, M is renting in, so he can do this).
Only thing is, after we both ran around committing a neatness, and had a couple of beers to prepare, when S came over, she insisted on socializing with both of us
| (No, this is not leading where you're thinking, Dawn.) |
So we ended up all sitting around talking. And I was appalled to find that she apparently had more in common with me than with M. But no, I wasn't going to go there. It's not the "bros before hos" crap; it's that he knows where I sleep.
I figured after a while, they'd go to the Lair and I could get back to practicing guitar or writing in my blog (anything to avoid actually doing my NaNoPrep today). But no... we just sat there and talked. Then she begged out when it started getting late - that's a long movie.
After M walked her to her car I said to him - whilst carrying my guitar; he wouldn't do anything to harm a guitar, so it was at least as effective as +5 plate armor - "Dude, I'm sorry. I wasn't intending to chaperone."
"Naw, it's cool." (At this point I took off the guitar.) "It's too soon for her to be comfortable alone with me. It's good you were there."
And then I went and learned how to play Counting Crows' "A Murder Of One" on the guitar. Four chords - easy!
So... wing man? Or cock block?
I'm going with the former... Mike was wanting to take it slow anyway.
Now if she only wouldn't laugh at my puns. That only encourages me. |
October 17, 2010 at 9:30pm October 17, 2010 at 9:30pm
| |
In my ongoing effort to be less of a reclusive geek and on the theory that living well is the best revenge (for being dumped), I've been traveling and going out more, lately.
So, last weekend (it's been that long since I wrote in here), my friend and long-ago girlfriend, Nicole, asked me if I wanted to go to dinner at the Melting Pot with her, her kid, her sister, her sister's two kids, and their parents. N's the only one who lives around here; everyone else is visiting.
Now, I'd met N's parents before, when we were dating. You don't forget things like dinner at the Ritz Carlton in Boston. I always thought they were pretty cool, though N doesn't get along with them all that well. Never met the sister (Denise), but to hear N talk about her, I was expecting horns, hooves and scales.
That turned out not to be the case. In fact, she was pretty hot-looking, and, as is rare for me, we immediately clicked. She even appreciated my puns, which is rare.
Ended up ditching the kids at the parents' hotel, and I went with D and N to the local brew pub, where we watched a bluegrass band from one of the couches (the tables were full). So there I was, sitting between two sisters, my arms sprawled behind them, gathering Looks from passers-by.
It's the little things in life, you know?
My friend, Mike, who's renting from me for a few months, recently got himself a girlfriend, a girl he met who was working at a coffeehouse (direct quote from Mike from when he was hitting on her: "I haven't drank this much coffee in... well, ever"). So apparently this girl, Shawna (which earned a snicker from me, though Mike hasn't read my Outer Banks erotica stories featuring a girl named Shawna), is a "derby dame," someone who does roller derby.
Anyway... she told Mike that at a local club Saturday night (yesterday, not a week ago... do keep up), they were going to have...
get this, now...
Sexy Zombie Jello Wrestling.
Meaning: Girls (some from the derby, some not) dress and make themselves up as zombies, and wrestle. In a tub filled with Jello.
Part of me was appalled at this, which clearly sets back the feminist movement 50 years. The rest of me tied and gagged that part and left her in a dark room to contemplate her error, then went to the Sexy Zombie Jello Wrestling.
So last night, I watched scantily clad zombie women Jello-wrestling, and I finally got to meet Shawna (who had a cast on her arm and thus, sadly, didn't wrestle).
Then, today - I missed it, because it would have involved getting up at 7 am, which I don't do anymore for any reason short of catching an airplane to somewhere - they had a Zombie Run. This was a serious 5k run which people signed up for for some cause or other, but what they didn't know was that they'd be running...
...while being Pursued By Zombies.
This would have been good training for the inevitable zombie invasion, but as the zombies didn't have to run the entire 5K, they had a significant advantage as they lurched, well-rested, out of the crowd and grabbed the runners, who from that point on had to become zombies as well.
Brilliant. Fucking brilliant.
So I had brunch with Mike and Shawna today, and they told me of this event, and I almost wished I'd gotten up at 7 am.
Almost. |
October 7, 2010 at 3:40pm October 7, 2010 at 3:40pm
| |
Canadians and Swedes and Australians and whatnot... you can ignore this entry.
If you're in the US, though, this is pretty cool:
http://www.voteeasy.org/
It's an interactive website that finds the candidates for House and Senate (here in Virginia, only House; we skip this year's senate elections) at your location and matches them to you based on your views of many different issues. Kind of an Internet dating site for politicians.
I wasn't surprised at mine; it was the dude I was going to vote for anyway.
But give it a try... you might discover something. |
October 6, 2010 at 10:20pm October 6, 2010 at 10:20pm
| |
Today would have been - okay, is - my 8th anniversary, a commemoration blighted only by the fact that I'm single again now.
So naturally, I went to Beer Run.
...Fallin' down to you sweet ground
Where the flowers they bloom
It's there I'll be found
Hurry back to me, my wild colleen
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday...
|
October 5, 2010 at 10:54pm October 5, 2010 at 10:54pm
| |
It's still happening. I can feel it happening. I can't sleep at night. I can't stay awake during the day. I feel like Something Bad is going to happen at any moment. My heart races, and when I do manage to sleep, I wake up screaming.
No, I'm not thinking about the possibility of batshit crazy Christine O'Donnell becoming a senator - though that's part of it. I just keep slipping further into what can only be depression. Normally I don't notice it because that's my default mode, but dammit, I was okay for a few weeks, there, despite being dumped.
This is going to fuck up my NaNoWriMo schedule, isn't it?
Goddammit.
The only bright side to any of this is I think I can be funnier when I'm depressed. Therefore, I won't be going to the doctor, because people read more of my shit if I'm funny. If I suddenly stop showing up here, you know what happened. Someone come by and feed my cats, please.
Anyway, that won't happen until after Halloween. Probably not until after I go to Iowa for a science fiction convention and to visit Storm Machine  in November. Not even until after early December, when I'm going to Vegas for a concert I can't talk about because I said I'd lay off on that sort of thing for a while (though yes, I did blow my concert budget. I figure maybe I'll go to fewer next year or something. Yeah, right.). After that, though, is the goddamn winter holidays, and nothing - nothing - depresses me more than that. Not even Springsteen songs.
Okay, enough of that crap.
Halloween.
I appreciate all the costume ideas. I may not use any of them, but they helped me brainstorm. I'm still thinking about it, between four or five possibilities. Since I'm not motivated to do much of anything, I'll go with whatever I feel would take the least amount of work. I probably won't announce it here. But I'll put up a pic, afterward, if someone takes one.
Just a few comments on your comments:
AL  : What's a kindle?
You get a pass on that one because you ain't from 'round here. A kindle is Amazon's e-book reader. And it's pretty cool. Only I've had to increase my book budget because now books are too easy to get. Used to be I'd have to get off my ass and travel to the local Boobs&Nipple, and they'd have like maybe one book I was remotely interested in if I were lucky. The Kindle, by contrast, is like "You read a lot of Jim Butcher. Allow us to introduce you to the writings of Brent Weeks. First hit's free!"
My brother came to me once an hour before he was supposed to be at masquerade party and asked me to help him with a costume. I picked up 2 sheepskins that I had lying on the floor and sewed them on to him, messed his hair up, and put some makeup on him, and made him a caveman. He won first prize at the place.
You could be a caveman I think. 
Yeah! And then no one would care if I clubbed Even CuterFriend and dragged her off by the hair, because I'd be acting in character!
Stik to My Own Beat  : As tempted as I am to suggest a Vulcan or a mutilated breast cancer awareness ribbon, those are my costumes. Let me think about it when my brain is a little more with the program.
I've never heard of mutilated breast cancer.
Seriously, though, I can't pull off a Vulcan - except for the raised eyebrow and the "Live long and prosper" thing with the hand. And if I were to go as a mutilated ribbon, it'd be one of those shitty yellow "support our troops" ones. Yeah, right. More like "support your local magnet manufacturer."
mindfulmoon: okay, I get a free pass on this because you're skipping my wedding ... Hello Kitty Vampire
That would certainly show her true colors.
prince charming zombie?
So instead of "braaaaaaaains" I'll be chanting "boooooooobs."
Plato! You get to wear a toga, ask probing questions and... use one of my favorite jokes lavishly. "Want to have a Platonic relationship with me?" "Sure" "Great! I'll be Plato and you can be my sultry Persian slave girl." Helps if you whip out a collar and leash at this point.
I have all those things.
Sephina : Well, you could go as Harry Dresden. Should be easy. Coat, staff, maybe the rod. Course, nobody may realize what you're dressed as. But screw 'em. 
Not if they can't figure out what I'm dressed as, I won't. Screw 'em, that is. Though I could pull off the trenchcoat, hat, blasting rod and staff thing. Unfortunately, I'd also need to grow by about a foot.
MaryLou : go as a Kindle
Not a bad idea. have no idea how I'd pull it off. Seems too complicated to put together, though, and like I said, I'm just not creative when it comes to putting a costume together.
Chewie Kittie : My daughter wants to be Xena this year. Perhaps you could pull that off?
Yeah... no.
Storm Machine : I once went as an engineer - the kind that drives trains. Pair of striped overalls and the fun striped hat with a white shirt and a red bandana and boots. Pretty simple costume idea and it's even a little punny.
Could work. Would have to spend money on the costume, but it wouldn't involve sewing and shit.
Harlow Flick, Right Fielder   : You’ve got the legs for a lovely Hannah Montana.
bugzy is baaaccck!! : I'm thinking a real Bare Naked Lady ... perhaps named Cindy? Sounds like you have the legs
I do have the legs, but they're all the way at the bottom of the freezer, and it'd be a real pain in the ass to dig them out at this point. |
October 4, 2010 at 11:36pm October 4, 2010 at 11:36pm
| |
I need a Halloween costume idea.
I don't usually "dress up" for Halloween. I'm not a creative person (at least when it comes to costumes; I like to think my writing shows some vague glimmers of creativity) and so the extent of my outfits thus far involve me wearing regular clothes while carrying a box of Cheerios with a knife through it.
Puns, I can do.
See, okay, here's what's going on:
Saturday night, I was feeling depressed - it is, after all, October, and the days are getting shorter and I can feel my serotonin drying up like spit in the Mojave - so I decided if I'm going to be depressed, goddammit, I'm going to be depressed with a beer in my hand. So I went off to Beer Run with my Kindle, sat outside, and drank.
The cool thing about a Kindle - if there is one - is that when people see you reading it, they're all like, "Is that a Kindle?" Which surprises me, because Amazon has claimed since they first came out that they were selling like lemonade in the aforementioned Mojave. Which should mean that by now, FIVE freaking years later, everyone in the country ought to have two of them.
And yet, other than mine, I've seen... three.
Okay, anyway, so people were coming up to me going "Is that a Kindle?" None of them were cute, so I was just like "Yeah."
"How do you like it?"
I'd shrug. "It's like reading a book, only no one can see what you're reading."
Then my favorite waitress - off-duty that night - sits down at the next table with a dude who also works there and they order a beer.
"Hey, man," says the off-duty waiter (the waitress barely acknowledged my existence). "What are you reading?"
So much for not having the title on display.
Well, I wasn't reading anything embarrassing like "Hello Kitty Meets Edward Cullen and They Have Lots of Unicorn Rainbow Vampire Kittens," so I say, "Something by Jim Butcher."
He squints.
"Jim Butcher? Dresden Files? But this is his fantasy series."
Blank look.
By now I'd thought everyone had at least heard of Harry Dresden. I guess you have to have a Kindle.
About then my friend Mike shows up, saving me from further conversation with the desperately unenlightened. At the same time, Cute Waitress shows up with an Even Cuter Friend and they sit down at the next table.
Cute Waitress clinks glasses with fucking Mike. Bastard.
Anyway, they end up telling us that the National Zoo up in DC is going to have a costume party along with a concert by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (one of those musical artists you've never heard of that I really like) and that they were going.
I consider the prospect of what kind of costume Even Cuter Friend might come up with, and make an on the spot decision that I was going to the party.
"Who's Grace Potter?" asks Mike, which surprises me, because he's even more into music than I am - but then, I'd had to teach him about DarWilliams, so okay.
So Cute Friend explains - in terms of a lot of those musical artists that you've never heard of that I really like.
Suddenly, Even Cuter Friend became EvenCuterFriend. I'm a sucker for people who share some of my taste in music, okay?
Then I find out she's 21.
Goddammitalltofuckinghell. I finally meet someone who not only has heard of the artists I like but loves them, and she's less than half my age.
I have about as much chance as spit in the desert.
I still wanna go to the party at the zoo.
So I need a costume idea.
No sparkly vampires, creepy mouthless cats, or unicorns, please. |
© Copyright 2025 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Robert Waltz has granted InkSpot.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
|
I'm more than happy with Carrion Luggage, however.
Comment • View 5 comments 
![Merit Badge in Quill Award
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning Best Blog in the 2021 edition of [Link To Item #quills] !](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award-1375927_6.gif)
![Merit Badge in Quill Award 2
[Click For More Info]
2022 Quill Award - Best Blog - [Link To Item #1196512] . Congratulations!!!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award_2-1375927_6.gif)
![Merit Badge in 30DBC Winner
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning the Jan. 2019 [Link To Item #30dbc] !!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-30DBC_Winner-2064535_14.gif)
![Merit Badge in Blogging
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning an honorable mention for Best Blog at the 2018 Quill Awards for [Link To Item #1196512] . *^*Smile*^* This award was sponsored by the blogging consortium including [Link To Item #30dbc] , [Link To Item #blogcity] , [Link To Item #bcof] and [Link To Item #1953629] . For more details, see [Link To Item #quills] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Blogging-2180.gif)
![Merit Badge in Highly Recommended
[Click For More Info]
I highly recommend your blog.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Highly_Recommended.gif)
![Merit Badge in Opinion
[Click For More Info]
For diving into the prompts for Journalistic Intentions- thanks for joining the fun!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Opinion-1150.gif)
![Merit Badge in High Five
[Click For More Info]
For your inventive entries in [Link To Item #2213121] ! Thanks for the great read!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-High_Five.gif)
![Merit Badge in Enlightening
[Click For More Info]
For winning 3rd Place in [Link To Item #2213121] . Congratulations!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Enlightening.gif)
![Merit Badge in Quarks Bar
[Click For More Info]
For your awesome Klingon Bloodwine recipe from [Link to Book Entry #1016079] that deserves to be on the topmost shelf at Quark's.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quarks_Bar-2046190_12.gif)
