the iMentor

Hints & rants

This weB-LOG is about the musing of a technical consultant. It is the iMentor's thoughts on technology and the human condition.

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Category: Uncategorized

Postscript Brain

September 30, 2021 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode #661 October 2, 2021 In the beginning of computer graphics there were dots.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506k3_V4z7o A computer screen lit a pixel and it was white. If a pixel was not lit, it was black. Thus, a pattern of black and white dots represented every graphic element. Letters in words in sentences were made of black and white dots. Any graphic was made of dots. By rearranging the dots over time, the screen could be animated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggufwGTM6N4 Since we lived in the age of paper, computer graphics had to be transferred to paper. The paper was already white, so the...
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The day i died

September 22, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #660 September 25, 2021 i have told this story before. My writers group encouraged me to rewrite the story as a memoir (a slice of personal history). They suggested that i write it in first person with terminology that non skydivers will understand. i invite you to come along for the ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWJXDG2i0A The Day I Died I convinced Sally to become a skydiver. She has made about 300 jumps. I have made 5000. Today I asked her to make a skydive with me. Normally, skydivers practice on the ground what they plan to do in free fall. It...
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Map in my Brain

September 15, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #659 September 18, 2021 My entire life i have been drawing a map in my brain.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMw9_ZMGvAQ It started when i was a small child. My father had me lie in the back of the station wagon and close my eyes. As he entered our neighborhood he said, “We are headed north. Each turn we make tell me what direction we are going.” When we turned left i yelled out “WEST.” Then left again, “SOUTH.” And so on zig zagging through the neighborhood streets. It did not take long before i had a mental map of my neighborhood,...
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Misunderstanding

September 8, 2021 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode #658 September 11, 2021 Misunderstanding is easy to achieve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXn1TonSmFc Sometimes conversation should be without nuance. Plain spoken, succinct comments often communicate most clearly. When communication is too subtle, misunderstanding occurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSjDDAucIj4 However, clarity is the vehicle of understanding. When forming a sentence more is often better than less. Sentences should, at a minimum, have a noun and a verb. Something is acting in some way. “He ran.” ...a perfectly correct sentence. But this sentence begs the questions: Who is “he”? How did he run? Where did he run to? Where did he run from? Why did he run...
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Now

August 31, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #657 September 4, 2021       The Book Of Counted Sorrows On the road that I have taken, one day, walking, I awaken, amazed to see where I have come, where I'm going, where I'm from. —  from Dark Rivers of the Heart -- Dean Koontz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7545WDwJWjg Now The Present is now. It is NOW, right now. Now it is the future and now it is past, right now. Now is the tip of an arrow aimed at a target that never arrives. The present does not wait for the end of my sentence. i thought that sleep would...
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Check Engine

August 25, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #656 August 28, 2021 My troubleshooting skills have been automotive instead of computing lately. But the same methods seem to apply.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYTtak15T-Y My wife and i were driving to Wyoming in my 1999 Toyota Tacoma. We stopped for gas outside Provo, Utah, where i filled up. OK… i kind of overfilled the tank. Five minutes later the check engine light came on. i did everything i knew to do: Paula pulled out the manual. The list of things that could evoke the check engine light included a loose gas cap. For all other causes the manual advised to...
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