/* ** ************************************************************************* ** ************************************************************************* ** ** NN NN SSSSSS XX XX ** NNN NN SS SS XX XX ** NN N NN SSS XX ** NN N NN SSS XX ** NN NNN SS SS XX XX ** NN NN SSSSSS XX XX ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** « an eclectic e-newsletter, e-published irregularly » ** Produced by Phillip Thorne ** nsx.underbase.org ** ** Volume 5, Issue 4: Saturday, 27 December 2003 ** Previous issue: Sunday, 7 December 2003 ** ** ************************************************************************* ** ************************************************************************* */ EDITOR: Merry Christmas, _Futurist_ illo job, holiday cooking OBS & COGS: Green-light reflex, TV and radio humor TECH ANALYSIS: Digital cameras and extreme storage ANIME NEWS: “Simpsons,” “Interstella 5555,” new “Tenchi Muyo” CON REVIEW: Philcon 2003 children's program GAME REVIEWS: RealOne Arcade's “Enigram 3” and “Rebound” ON THE WEB: Uni-wheeled robot, Johnny Chase, Yahoo! box office stats http://www.underbase.org/nsx/ - back issues http://www.underbase.org/blog - NSX::Blogmode http://www.underbase.org/nsx/index_plus.htm - extra content /* *************************************************************************** ** FROM THE EDITOR ** ** Merry Christmas ** Illo job for _The Futurist_ ** Jell-O molds and chocolate candies ** ************************************************************************ */ Merry Christmas! Note that I'm not using the generic "happy holidays," because several national commentators have recently complained about that form of mealy-mouthism. Therefore I will also complain. Those of you celebrating (C)Hanuk(k)ah, or Kwanzaa, or who survived Ramadan a month ago -- respective well- wishes to you. I recently completed my first pro illustration job, for an article in _The Futurist_, the bimonthly newsletter of the World Futures Society. The article, by Mike Treder of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, describes the likely social effects of the home nanofactory, as designed by colleague Chris Phoenix. The article, my illustrations (and byline!) appear in the January- February 2004 issue, now available in libraries. Back issues may be ordered for $4.95 each plus $3.00 postage and handling; see below. http://www.wfs.org/futurist.htm http://www.wfs.org/backiss.htm http://www.crnano.org/ Lately, I've been making Jell-O molds and molded chocolate candies. Like most activities, they're harder than they look (or the packaging admits). I'll eventually explain in detail. /* *************************************************************************** ** OBSERVATIONS AND COGITATIONS ** ** Green-light reflex ** "Your vacuum cleaner ate my pants." ** "Angels are made of mashed potatoes." ** ************************************************************************ */ You're the first car waiting at a red light, you register the green flash of the left-turn signal for the adjacent lane, and you reflexively release the brake -- that ever happen to you? *** A recent TV ad leverages the existence of robot vacuum cleaners, such as Roomba. A man visiting his girlfriend's house taunts the robot with a bottle of soda [1]. Wackiness ensues, concluded with this deadpan excuse to the girlfriend: "Your vacuum cleaner ate my pants. There was nothing I could do." *** A recent interlude on National Public Radio (NPR) began with a humorist wondering about ongoing recriminations about the lack of coordination between the CIA and FBI in regards to the September Eleventh disasters, and the general matter of thinking outside boxes. He then executed the following non-sequitur: "Wow. It's big out here. Hey, what if an angel just floated by? Imagine that you grabbed its foot; and then, for some reason only you can explain, you took a big bite out of its calf. I bet it would taste like mashed potatoes. Angels are made of mashed potatoes!" [1] Soda: carbonated beverage. AKA "soft drink," "pop." This is one of those American regionalisms for food, like the exact connotation of "gravy" or "dressing." /* *************************************************************************** ** TECH ANALYSIS ** Digital cameras and extreme storage ** ************************************************************************ */ There's a panel in the manga _Cannon God Exaxxion_ in which a character shoves a memory-disk labeled "2 PETA" into her video recorder. "When Disney's 'Snow White' digitizes to only a few terabytes," I wondered, "How can a camera possibly consume two *peta*bits of storage, a thousand times as much?" (Bits, bytes, words; regardless.) Today, high-end monitors run at 1280 by 1024 pixels, with 24 bits of color information each, and 72 frames per second. Digital cameras are now sold with 5.1 megapixel CCDs. Movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, and NTSC TV is transmitted at 30. Special graphics file-formats use additional bits per pixel, to manage "high contrast" information that is otherwise hidden in areas of solid white or black. I scribbled a spreadsheet to combine these details, and some reasonable extrapolation, and found that the label wasn't unreasonable: A camera running at 4000x3000x32 @30fps will consume 3.84e8 bits per second, or 4.15e13 (40 terabits) per hour. Running at four times the spatial resolution (8000x6000, 48 megapix) consumes four times as much -- 1.66e14 (166 terabits) per hour. Bump that to 48 bits @72fps and the 2.3-gigabit images pile up at 600 terabits per hour -- that disk would store 3.3 hours. (These numbers are for raw, uncompressed data.) How much detail is conveyed by an 8000-pixel scan? Assuming a 20° lens, at 10 meters the image covers 3.5 meters; so each pixel subtends 9 seconds of arc, or 0.437 mm. --You could almost read the text in a newspaper (at 3 mm, that's 7 pix per letter). One can imagine plenty of ways to consume more bits per pixel. Besides dynamic range, the camera's spectral range could be extended -- not just the usual 400- to 700-nm human visual spectrum, but IR and UV [1]. False colors would be needed, of course; but you could say, "The house is leaking heat at the windows," or, "So that's what a bee sees in that flower," or, "Look out! There's a Predator hiding in the corner." Bump up the resolution, and you could perform those extreme zooms seen in SF: "Honey, I know there's a man in the house. I can see his reflection in your watchband." *** [1] Infrared (IR) sensing would require a different sensor, carefully aligned to match the visual image. Ultraviolet (UV) can use the same sensors, but the lenses have to be quartz (crystalline silica); glass (amorphous silica) absorbs UV. Many animals, including birds and insects, can perceive UV wavelengths; in fact, so can the "blue" sensors in the human retina (ie, their response spectrum is nonzero below 400 nm), although they're not often called to do so because of a yellow pigment in the lens, and Raleigh scattering in the aqueous and vitreous humors. /* *************************************************************************** ** ANIME NEWS ** ** "Simpsons" couch scene anime homage ** Leiji Matsumoto and Daft Punk: "Interstella 5555" ** "Tenchi Muyo:" new OAVs and TV series ** ************************************************************************ */ In the most recent new episode of "The Simpsons" (14-dec-2003), the "couch scene" was an anime homage, in which the family were rendered as characters from famous Japanese imports, gathering on a city sidewalk bench with Mount Fuji in the background. (Reportedly, the katakana [2] on the bench read "Simpsons.") The characters are: Marge as Jun/Princess from "Gatchaman"/"Battle of the Planets," Lisa as Sailor Moon, Homer as Ultraman, Maggie as Pikachu, and Bart as Astroboy. *** While Leiji Matsumoto's "Great Yamato"-turned-"Great Galaxy" project languishes in copyright limbo, he's meanwhile finished a project with the French band Daft Punk: a DVD called "Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem." (Yes, those are numeral-fives, not letter-esses.) The first four music videos aired as part of a Cartoon Network special, three years ago; this completes the story of the alien rock band that's kidnapped and brainwashed to perform on Earth. The DVD runs 65 minutes and was released on 2-dec-2003... and toys are in the works. http://www.daftpunk.com http://www.bacfilms.com/site/interstella/ http://www.resfest.com/interstella5555.html *** Fans of the SF-comedy-romance anime "Tenchi Muyo," rejoice! After eight years, a third series of OAVs [5] are in progress; two of its eps have been released. Moreover, a new TV series (also in the OAV continuity [6]) is complete, and has been bought by FUNimation (the company that brings you "Dragonball Z") for US release. "Tenchi Muyo! GXP" follows Seina Yamada, a classmate of Tenchi Masaki's, who through a series of unlikely accidents is enrolled in the Galaxy Police academy, is assigned a space pirate bait, and acquires his own harem of admiring females. Tenchi and Co. appear only in cameos, but several of their relatives are major characters. The fan website "Tenchi Muyo! Another Universe" by Matt Griffiths is the best resource I've found; it's comprehensive, up-to-date, has an appealing and usable visual design; and includes several detailed essays on Japanese translation. I especially found the following family tree to be enlightening (beware spoilers!): http://tmau.fateback.com/articles/family_tree.html The official "Tenchi" website hosts the trailers for OAV s3. The site's in Japanese, as is the audio; look for the links labeled "Real Player" and "Windows Media." Like me, you may get better results with the low-bandwidth version, even if you have a cable modem -- the bits are probably pumping across the Pacific. http://www.tenchi-web.com/new/a01.html *** [2] Modern Japan uses five separate writing systems: Chinese- derived logograms [3]; a 51-symbol syllabary [4] of rounded hiragana, used for native words; a second syllabary of angular katakana, for loanwords; the Roman alphabet; and Hindu-Arabic numerals. [3] Logogram: A century ago, European linguists coined the term "ideogram" to describe what they thought Chinese characters were doing, ie, expressing abstract ideas. Upon further scrutiny, they've decided that the spoken word is paramount, and all writing systems exclusively reflect concepts that can be uttered. Hence, the old term has been discarded in favor of "logogram," meaning "word picture." [4] Syllabary: If a writing system has around 20 symbols, it's probably an "alphabet," in which each represents a separate phoneme. If it has around 50, it's probably a "syllabary," in which each represents a combination of phonemes used as a syllable. In Japanese, these units are called "mora," and are all the same length. The rhythm of spoken Japanese is thus very even, unlike English. [5] In Japan, many animated projects are sold as direct-to-video; these are called OAV (or OVA), for "original animation video." [6] Should an animated series prove sufficiently popular, it is often "re-imagined" (to use Tim Burton's term) in sequels that use the same characters or premise, but with new events -- ie, the stories don't exist in the same history or "continuity." "Tenchi Muyo" has three-and-a-half such: the OAVs and "GXP" (plus a set of novels that branched off, and one of the movies); the first TV series ("Tenchi Universe") plus two movies; and the second TV series ("Tenchi in Tokyo"). /* *************************************************************************** ** CONVENTION REVIEW ** Philcon 2003: Children's Program ** Featuring: ** Faye Goldman, Owen Hutchins, Phil Thorne, Bob Walters, Steve Whittam ** ************************************************************************ */ Business conferences and "Creation"-brand "Star Trek" conventions are run by paid professionals. In contrast, fan conventions are run by a core Committee from a local club, plus whatever attendee- volunteers can be recruited. The result is Staff who are stuck in a single room for the duration of a weekend, with little opportunity to participate -- or even witness general trends. Committed staff therefore have fun only when attending "away" cons, at which someone *else* does the work. Yes, that's a pun -- "committed," as in, "You're insane to take on this job!" Alas, I suffer from that flavor of madness; some years the malady is especially pronounced. *This* year I took on responsibility for the Childrens' Program at Philcon, two weeks before the convention, and suffered all the consequences pertaining thereunto. It *seemed* to make sense: I'd worked with kids before, in a science context; and I owned a large number of plastic building toys that I rarely used myself. The Kids Track is a recent addition to the program, designed to occupy children ages 6-12 who'd be bored by the rest of the events (most of which involve sitting still, if not quietly). Theoretically, this encourages more parents to attend the convention; it might also entice the kids into fandom. Programming styles will vary, though all operate within a basic legal/liability framework for child care. Some Department Heads (aka Coordinators) will schedule lots of arts and crafts (masks, coloring, rubber stamps shaped like rocket ships); others use storytelling and videos; I did gaming and toys. Under optimal conditions, the Head won't lead the individual programs, or be a full-time room warden; but that depends on staffing levels. See above. Special thanks are due to my friend Steve Whittam, whom I enticed to the convention with the promise of a free membership (panelists and committee get that perq), and then drafted as my Assistant. http://www.philcon.org *** This year, I arranged: * Two, two-hour sessions of "Toon," an RPG (Steve Jackson Games, out of print) based on the dynamics of American cartoons: lots of gags and hijinks, and nobody dies (even when hit with anvils). The game was run by OWEN HUTCHINS, with the rules slightly simplified to suit the half-dozen juvie players. * Two, one-hour sessions of "QuikWars," a war-game played with PBBs ("plastic building briks[sic]," ie LEGO bricks and the like), designed by Mike Rayhawk to be simple and fast. Each player controls an army of Grunts (mini-figs) with ranged- and melée- weapons, optionally with vehicles to drive and constructs to hide behind. The kids quickly assimilated the basis of rolling Health- vs-Damage (there are no Points to track; either a Grunt is killed, or not), and of demolishing obstacles. The games were run by myself, with help from STEVE WHITTAM. (When properly played, QuikWars is about wacky carnage; players don't just demolish armies, they recite B-movie stories about how it happens. I was a bit worried about exposing kids to this level of pseudo-violence, but apparently eight-year-old boys need no encouraging.) http://www.brikwars.com * Two, two-hour sessions of unstructured LEGO brick play, featuring 70% of my collection. Unlike this past May's Balticon, it did not attract any adults. I discovered that LEGO bricks are too powerful a magnet; I left them out after the sessions, but finally put them away to force the kids to play with other toys I'd brought. * A one-hour follow-along demo on drawing dinosaurs (T-rex and triceratops heads, specifically), led by paleontological artist BOB WALTERS. His patter included factoids about fossils, and anecdotes about consulting for "Jurassic Park." This was the best-attended of the events. http://www.dinoart.com * A one-hour session of origami, led by FAYE GOLDMAN. * A one-hour session on writing your name in Egyptian hieroglyphs, led by me. No one bothered attending this, because it was at 14:00 on Sunday, and many attendees had (reportedly) fled an incipient snowstorm. (It failed to materialize; we got heavy rain after 17:00 instead.) * Two, two-hour blocks of "family video," in conjunction with Anime Department Head BRIAN PRICE. For various reasons, these failed to happen; fortunately, nobody came looking for "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas" (1990) or "The Hobbit" (1977). *** With the advice of several previous Coordinators, next year will be different. There exist opportunities for liaison between departments (Art programming, Anime), and between conventional age-divisions (some activities attract both adults and juvies; parents can assist their kids, if the craft itself can't be customized to skill levels). A separate room might be declared for all the building toys. /* *************************************************************************** ** GAME REVIEWS ** ** “Enigram 3” -- match the colored balls ** “Rebound” -- destroy the minefield with your bouncing ball ** ************************************************************************ */ I dislike computer games with an excessive learning curve, or that require more than five controls; that limits me to puzzles, pinball, and arcade-style polygon shooters. Lucky me, there's a free source online: REALONE ARCADE. Some games are fullscreen, others run in Internet Explorer; each has a free demo version, measured by minutes of play (not sessions). http://www.realonearcade.com “Enigram 3” By Enigram Games (USA), 2003 Fullscreen, 60 minutes demo You're presented with a histogram-like lineup of spheres ("marbles") in assorted colors, some stamped with symbols. Beneath the nine columns, you're given a row with three spheres and six gaps. Adjust it horizontally, then push up -- the input marbles displace those directly above, and groups of three or more in like colors vanish (in the usual fashion), collapsing the structure (likewise). You complete the level once you've annihilated all the decorated spheres. But look out! Subsequent levels add input marbles, reducing horizontal flexibility. If any stack grows to fill its column (twelve rows), a timer starts decrementing to failure, ceasing only when you reduce the crowding. This is a fatal situation on the highest levels, when the input-row is full. “Rebound” Reflexive Entertainment (USA), 2001 Fullscreen, 60 minutes demo Objective: demolish the minefield by bouncing the ion-globe between the mines, gameboard edges, and your RS42 spacecraft. It's an exercise in angles of incidence and reflection. The minefield resembles a brick wall; your deflector-equipped craft moves horizontally beneath it. As you ascend the levels, new mine-types are introduced: half-armored slabs that bounce the ball from one side, and can only be destroyed from the other; explosive ones that cause fratricidal destruction of neighbors; ones that carry bonuses and penalties (grow/shrink panel, speed/slow the globe, multi-ball). Blasting the first mines is easy, when it's difficult to miss; once it's sparse, you'll need to use the curved edges of the deflector to adjust the angle of your shots. /* *************************************************************************** ** ON THE WEB ** ** Novel designs for uni-wheeled robot ** Johnny Chase: pseudo-anime character promotes T-Mobile ** Yahoo! Movies box office statistics ** ************************************************************************ */ KEN PERLIN, computer science professor at the NYU Media Research Lab, proposes new designs for a self-balancing table and a single- wheeled robot. (The former uses tiny cars carrying counterweights, and the latter uses paired gyroscopes able to quickly exert torque by inducing precession.) He cites Dean Kamen's Segway scooter as precedent, and Rosie the Robot (from "The Jetsons") as inspiration. http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/rosie/ Remember those T-Mobile TV ads that looked like anime? The protagonist was called "Johnny Chase," and the cellular character has given him a website on which to promote the "T-Mobile Sidekick Wirelss Communicator" (the one that resembles a bar of soap with a pivoting screen-cover). One section is labeled "TV and webisodes" but appears to contain only the latter; they're Flash-animated and cumbersome to download, even on broadband. http://www.johnnychase.com/main.html Yahoo! Movies presents daily and weekend U.S. box office numbers; including cumulative gross, weeks released, and number of screens. Receipts are measured to the nearest dollar: eg, "Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience" (#83) earned $55 on one screen (and a total of $1,722,111 in its 66 weeks open). http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice-daily/today/rank.html http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice/latest/rank.html For your further statistical pleasure, Yahoo! presents the top 100 U.S. box-earners (cumulative). "Titanic" (1997) is #1 with $600 million, followed by "Star Wars" (1977) with $461 million, then "E.T.," "Star Wars: The Phantom Menance," "Spider-Man," "Jurassic Park," and so forth. It'd be enlightening to analyze how many fall into each genre, are animated, etc. http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice-alltime/rank.html /* ************************************************************************ ** Legalese ** Acknowledgments ** Opt-in/out Instructions ** *********************************************************************** */ The original content (layout, text) of this newsletter is copyright 2002 Phillip Thorne. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted only as per applicable copyright law, if all copyright notices remain intact, and if citation trails (URLs or otherwise) are provided. That said, if you think colleagues would find an issue useful, please reproduce it -- but also suggest they subscribe. Those creative works (books, films, TV, websites, software, toys, etc.) referred-to (reviewed, synopsized, quoted, condensed, analyzed, etc.) herein are the property of their respective owners, are referred-to according to copyright law as interpreted in the U.S., and are cited whenever possible. No (endorsement, infringement, insult) is (expressed, implied, intended), except where specifically stated. If you're receiving this newsletter, it's because... * You're a family member, coworker- or classmate-friend, * You've intentionally subscribed to it, or * We've spoken and I've decided you'd find it interesting. If you'd prefer not to feed my ego, I'll happily drop you from the list. To subscribe and unsubscribe, or to relocate your subscription, use the e-ddresses below: Publisher: nsx@underbase.org (human) Newsletter: nsx-l@underbase.org (automated system) nsx-l-subscribe (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) /* *************************************************************************** ** *************************************************************************** ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** Volume 5, Issue 4: Saturday, 27 December 2003 ** Copyright 1999-2003 Phillip Thorne, nsx@underbase.org ** *************************************************************************** ** ************************************************************************ */