This weekend three of us were knocked out sick. Hugh V was as bright as could be. He was sick two days prior. So we did lots of snuggling and outside walks.
Sick for Easter
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Category Archives: Other Journals
Let’s use the list of chapters…
‘Let’s use the list of chapters…’ That is what Hugh V said tonight as we looked for a bedtime story. He knows each story in the book. But now he also know how to use an index at three years old! So proud and happy.
Hats and other things
Katja has taken a liking to skiing. the local rental shop will rent her a set of skis and boots for $129 for the season. As much as I want to help her have access to skis I want to help her understand money and entrepreneurship.
I put it out there that she will need to pay for the skis for next year (the ski pass is free till age 12). There was silence for a few minutes after which she said that she could make hats. She likes to crochet. I suggested that hand made hats might be in the order of $25-$30 and that six of them might generate enough income for the skis.
Since concocting this plan on Friday she has lined up training for hat making (a friend), and discovered where she can sell them (the annual ski swap event). This is going to be fun and interesting to support. Some time in the future we’ll take a look at the business model canvas.
All a board.
AI and Society
I have been reflecting on how our environment is shaped by algorithms. We are presented options via algorithms (in cases like direct marketing). We are sometimes subject to the impacts of automation systems such as systems in California which assign the possibility of bail based an algorithmic assessment of the case file.
In an AI based culture we can’t control the AI based nature of those things reported around us(variable prices or news articles), but we can focus our relationships on those around us. The question of social importance is where does the AI influence us in the decision making process? The problem in legal frameworks are that the decision processes are directed graphs with bounded options. However we are not bounded in our decision making as individuals. That is, AI may not actually be more equitable or just than a human decision maker.
In a sense then to reduce decisions to AI decision makers is to show a certain amount of apathy.
Font queries
What do I want to do?
In the context of a pipeline I want to test a font against an known orthography version to know if it will support the orthography.
To that end here is a start:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4458696/finding-out-what-characters-a-given-font-supports
Another interesting site is: https://fontdrop.info/. It provides information from the metadata. Is list the languages it supports. But I wonder, what does "language support" or "supported languages" mean in these contexts? Where do the list of languages come from? Where are these languages' requirements cataloged?
Making a Violin
I was looking up some resources for making a violin in my area. Violinorum says there are three, one in salem and two in portland. I want to make three violins.
https://www.theluthierslibrary.com/
https://www.theluthierslibrary.com/luthiers_library/mainMenu.do
https://www.kerrviolins.com/baroque-and-classical-instruments.html
http://www.sandysviolin.com/handmade-violins-violas.html
https://www.herrmannviolins.com/violin-making
And then of course there is the bow making too.
couple of articles:
https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/violin/selection/
https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/using-wood-for-violin-makers.html
https://www.benningviolins.com/types-of-wood-for-making-a-violin.html
Python traps
From time to time, I read about the advancement of pythons in the Florida Everglades. Pythons are an introduced species without a predator in this context. This is deemed to be bad for biodiversity in the region. It is also predicted that the population will continue to expand north. One thing I haven’t read about is the use of traps based on pheromone attraction. It seems that such traps could work for snakes of a specific gender.
All a board
And the boat is about to launch! All a board!
E
Adding Outputs to XLingPaper
I would like to add some outputs to XLingPaper. Three very interesting and community-broadening outputs to add would be JATS, Docbook scoped to the Balisage Tag Set (for use by balisage paper authors), and the DHQ markup language.
Red Arrows Propose new XML outputs
Carries-free Kids
As a kid I remember getting many fillings. Also remember distinct visits to the dentist where my brother screamed. It seemed cavities were a part of life.
When I was in the 5th grade I lived on a dairy farm. More importantly our back yard was a courtyard which was a covered liquid drain pool for faeces and urine. We had five kids in the family at that time but our rate of acquiring ear infections, streptococcus, bronchitis, and sinus infections was, as I recall, high. It might have been the environment, but it was also true that we passed the illnesses from child to child.
One day that same brother who screamed years earlier at the dentist, piped up and said: we keep getting sick because we share toothpaste. Even if we have separate toothbrushes, sharing toothpaste is a common point of contact. After that our parents bought us each our own toothpaste and we did see some lower rates of illness.
Separate toothpaste sources is more than a flavor choice in my family. We don’t drink after each other and we do try not to use the same toothpaste source to reduce the number of vectors available for spreading illnesses across our family.
When in was in Highschool one of my classmates’s dad was a pediatric dentist. He told me that one way to think about carries was as a communicable disease. Since it was caused by a bacteria, it could spread. This has also helped the thinking in our house.
This year we are celebrating 10 child-years with no dental carries! We have a 7 year old and a 3 year old. I brush their teeth 3-4 times a week, with other supplemental brushing on their own. I use the oral-b brush in the photo because it has reduced my gum inflammation due to over brushing with manual brushes.
These factors, along with a high yogurt, no-high fructose corn syrup, no-candy, no-soda diet has so-far pushed us into a more healthy oral hygiene situation for my kids than for me when I was a kid.