The End of a Decade, with a Fair Starting Day

I'll let you know when my decade ends.

To do that, I'll first need to figure out when it started. ;)

Now, which starting point will allow me to maximize or minimize something interesting...

Oh, never mind; let's do this with a random-number generator: I get 2017.55793, which rounding to the nearest day (I'll round up), gives me a start to my decade of the 204th day of 2017.

My decade apparently started on 23 July 2017, so talk to me in 2027 about the end of my decade.

P.S. Happy New Year! (Well, in a few hours.)

An Annual Hourglass

This is really cool!

(This is also probably the one that Squeeze was singing about. ;) )

The Timewheel in Budapest is possibly the world's largest hourglass, and it needs to be reset every New Year's Eve. Each December 31, a team of four people uses steel cables to rotate it, preparing the monstrosity for another year pic.twitter.com/gpjg8pqK8g

— Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura) December 31, 2017

(Tip of the cap to Karen Daniels.)

Academic X-Mas Bingo Board

I do very well on this Bingo board even without X-Mas!

With Christmas just around the corner, it's time to play the academia bingo. Who's going to win first this year? pic.twitter.com/UMVLgYJNBT

— Sylvain ❄️👨🏻‍🎓 (@DevilleSy) December 20, 2017

(Tip of the cap to Sabine Hossenfelder.)

Where is My Damn Hoverboard!!!???!!!

Seriously, where is my damn hoverboard???!!!???.

Update: Also see this article. (Tip of the cap to Jonathan Adams for the article.)

Isaac Asimov's 1964 Essay on Life in 2014

In 1964, Isaac Asimov wrote about life in 2014 via a visit to the 2014 World's Fair. His predictions were rather good on several counts.

(Tip of the cap to Maria Satterwhite.)

Happy 2015!

I hope that you and yours have a happy and healthy 2015!

Oh wait... is it too soon? ;)

Don't Believe the Hype!

Don't believe the hype! It's still 2012. Seriously.

In fact, that's not accurate either. It's still 1988! At least in my world.

iTunes Oracle: 2011 Edition

After skipping last year (which turned out alright anyway), it's time to use the iTunes Oracle to see what 2011 has in store for me. I might have asked Paul the Octopus, but it's too early in the morning in Pasadena to have a seance, so we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. You can take a look here to see the predictions for 2009 and links to the predictions for 2008, 2007, and 2006.

My first attempt to use iTunes for 2011 divination caused iTunes to crash. Perhaps that's not such a good sign of the future, but nevertheless let's carry on!

Here is what the iTunes Oracle has to say about my 2011:

1. The Covering: Nirvana, The Man Who Sold The World (Unplugged)
2. The Crossing: Flamin' Grooves, Paint It Black
3. The Crown: The Cure, Love Will Tear Us Apart (Live)
4. The Root: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Walls
5. The Past: Celtic Woman, Fields of Gold
6. The Future: Visage, Pleasure Boys
7. The Questioner: Erasure, Piano Song (Instrumental)
8. The House: Soft Cell, The Art of Falling Apart
9. The Inside: New Order, Blue Monday (1988)
10. The Outcome: The Knife, One Hit

Bonus Song: Depeche Mode, Dreaming Of Me


Hmmm... My divination for 2011 started out a bit oddly, as four of the first five songs are covers. The Covering concerns important things regarding the situation, so something about somebody selling the world. It could be serious, or perhaps it could be whoever sells Civilization V to me or otherwise provides some mechanism for me to get it? It's not clear. The Crossing refers to current obstacles, which might refer to the rather annoying but harmless 'black line' that I first noticed I had in last March. The Crown refers to the best that can be achieved by the current situation, which seems rather bleak, given that it's a band that sings dark songs covering a group whose lead singer committed suicide. The Root refers to things from the past that played a role in bringing about this situation. As usual, that could be anything---especially given that walls could be either literal or figurative. The Past manages to be a song about the past, and I'm having trouble even coming up with a hokey interpretation for this one. Maybe fields that workers of mine have tended in older versions of Civilization? That seems rather dubious. The Future, on the other hand, seems rather disturbing. Let us speak no more of this. The Questioner seems to suggest that I'm not actually asking any questions. And after that recent glimpse of the future, I think should probably be afraid to ask anything. The House clearly evinces the confidence that other people have in me. Right. According to The Inside, my expectations are apparently that Mondays will be bad (or at least sad). Well, given that I don't like Mondays, I didn't exactly need an oracle for this. The eventual Outcome is one hit. Maybe that means I'll have one really big success in 2011 (my preferred option) or that I will be hit really hard once in 2011? As usual, it could be anything. The bonus song isn't actually part of the divination, but many other Top N lists (such as the "Top 5 Modern English songs" that KROQ once famously played) include a bonus song, so why not? And it was Depeche Mode, so that's always good.

As always, the iTunes Oracle doesn't make any sense, but it's fun, I skipped last year, and Paul the Octopus put me back in the divinatory mood, so it's a nice exercise. Have a Happy 2011!

As for what resolution should come out of this divination, I could always do my usual one to be less neurotic than the previous year, but I think this time I'll go for being more patient and understanding instead. Happy New Year!

January 2nd is the new January 1st.

Well, maybe. I'm just pondering things at the moment.

A Quick Comment on New Year's Resolutions

Years ago, I used to use "don't be neurotic anymore" as a New Year's resolution, and then I realized that that was hopeless. On the bright side, however, that leaves a lot of wiggle room for "be less neurotic this year", and I even get to use the same resolution year after year!

New Year's Resolution as determined by iTunes (Take 4)

Just like I did last year, the year before that, and the year before that, I am going to determine my New Year's resolution using the iTunes Oracle. It is a bit early to do this, but it's already the 31st in Oxford, so we'll just deal with the fact that it's still really early morning there.

Here is what the iTunes Oracle says about my 2009:

1. The Covering: Lisa Stansfield, Someday (I'm Coming Back)
2. The Crossing: Madonna, Nothing Fails (Jason Nevins Radio Remix)
3. The Crown: Madness, Baggy Trousers
4. The Root: David Bowie, Golden Years
5. The Past: Icehouse, Don't Believe Anymore
6. The Future: Squeeze, If I Didn't Love You
7. The Questioner: Mariah Carey, To Be Around You
8. The House: Paul Simon, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
9. The Inside: Neil Hannon, So Long & Thanks For All The Fish (Reprise)
10. The Outcome: John Lennon, The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Bonus song: Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water


Last year's prediction that waves would be important to me in 2008 was hardly surprising, given that I study nonlinear waves. Given my musical tastes, the iTunes Oracle has brought me yet another overwhelmingly positive prediction for this year. Apparently, the current issue involves my worrying that something or someone might be coming back and possibly stalking me. (I certainly hope not.) Also, the current problems involve nothing failing. Well that's hardly realistic! Maybe it means that there will be problems if I don't fail any of my students? Also, the best that I can achieve from how things currently are is baggy trousers, which isn't actually so bad. Some aspects of all this have arisen from my skepticism, but it sounds like I'm getting over that. What will replace it are bipolar feelings about something. (OK, you need to know the lyrics of the Squeeze song to see where that interpretation comes from.) The questions around this come from whether or not I am around whatever object or creature is in question, or perhaps they really arise from the fact that I have some Mariah Carey songs on my playlist? Other people apparently view this object or creature as somehow luxurious or possibly (if a person) as having had some sort of privileged background. My hopes for the situation are just that things will go away. (We shall see. Let's see what materializes first.) The outcome will be my railing about others (figuratively) crucifying me---also bloody likely, given how much I care about how others think. ;) And as a bonus, the Oracle ended on a rather melancholy song.

In sum, the Oracle has made about as little sense as usual. :) But it's a fun exercise nonetheless. Happy New Year!

New Year's resolution (as determined by iTunes): Take 3

Just like last year and the year before that.


As usual, here is the key for how to read this resolution/fortune. Now let's see what the iTunes Oracle has to say for 2008:

1. The Covering: Wolfsheim, Blind (radio edit)
2. The Crossing: Billy Joel, Keeping the Faith
3. The Crown: EMF, Lies
4. The Root: Level 42, Forever Now
5. The Past: Squeeze, Loving You Tonight
6. The Future: R.E.M., Daysleeper
7. The Questioner: Tom Lehrer, Silent E
8. The House: George Carlin, Incomplete List of Impolite Words
9. The Inside: Celine Dion, (If There Was) Any Other Way
10. The Outcome: Novuelle Vague, Waves (cover of Blancmange)

Bonus song: Alison Moyet, Love Resurrection


Now let's try to figure what all this actually means. The Covering refers to some important stuff surrounding the situation, like the fact that I am often blind to social cues. The Crossing refers to current obstacles, perhaps a need to not give up on certain things. The Crown refers to the best that can be achieved with the current situation --- in this case, lies, which isn't exactly a very positive outcome. (To this song's credit, however, this is EMF's other, much-better big hit, because they are actually not the one-hit-wonder that most people believe them to be.) I don't understand The Root at all. Any ideas? The Past is also confusing --- what the fuck is it with these love songs? They're always so damned hard to interpret! The Future, however, clearly refers to the increasingly nocturnal lifestyle that I am about to possess. The Questioner quite clearly refers to American versus British spelling, which is starting to play quite a substantial role in my grant proposals. This is pretty eerie, isn't it? I'm somewhat disturbed that The House is represented by a George Carlin rant. I guess that means that other people view this whole spelling conundrum as a bunch of crap? On The Inside, however, I am apparently evoking Celine Dion. (In fact, this is one of her really good songs, as opposed to her slower-paced lousy ones.) Somehow, I want some other way to go about doing things other than whatever is I have planned. The Outcome of 'Waves' simply means that I'm going to say 'fuck it' and just continue doing research on nonlinear waves. What else could it possibly mean? Also, the bonus song refers to zombies (or perhaps more generally to my future as a necromancer) because I apparently love resurrection. All the alternate interpretations of the bonus song are even more disturbing, so let's just stick with the current one.

(Incidentally, both artists in my upcoming concert series are present: I'll be seeing Alison Moyet on February 10th and Nouvelle Vague on February 23rd.)

OK, that's about it for this installment of the New Year's iTunes Oracle. I'm going to continue revising a research paper now---it concerns nonlinear wave propagation.

New Year's Resolution (as determined by iTunes), Take 2

Let's start by revisititing the outcome of my new year's resolution from 2006. Sadly, since m resolution didn't make any sense, I don't have any particular outcomes to report either. Hence, let's see what iTunes has to say about my New Year's resolution for 2007:

1. Enya, "Amarantine"
2. Cheap Trick, "Surrender"
3. Blues Traveler, "But Anyway"
4. Los Lobos, "No Tengo Dinero"
5. Talking Heads, "Stay Up Late"
6. Tears For Fears, "Head Over Heels"
7. Delerium, "Aria"
8. Engima, "Cross of Changes"
9. Garbage, "It's All Over But The Crying"
10. Talk Talk, "Strike Up the Band"


This is a very solid group of songs. My favorite of the bunch is "Cross of Changes" but not by much. For what it's worth, song number (9) is by far the best song on Garbage's 2005 album.

Now, what does this stuff mean (besides the fact that I am a sucker for iTunes resolutions/fortunes...)? Here is the key. If I use this as a fortune, then it looks like (3) implies that the best thing I can do is to say 'fuck it' and just move on (which is often good advice). Song (10) seems to be implying that things might end with a rim shot. As usual, I really don't have much of a clue as to how to interpret this, but I am amused at the placement of some of the songs.

In the spirit of reality, perhaps I should resolve to become better at making new friends. Once I move in October, I'm really going to need to find some good people or else I'm going to be hanging out on my own way too often.