This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always.

The Standard Model is our best quantum theory, not a new wave punk band.

Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It involves the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. One of the key tactics for exploring psychogeography is the loosely defined urban walking practice known as the dérive.

Mind-blindness is a theory that autistic people lack a Theory of Mind, which can lead them to a lack of empathy. This is discussed by Dave Plummer, over here: Mindblindness.

The fucking UX got fucked. Speaking of UX, I recently picked up this Complete Web Design and UX Mastery Bundle from Humble Bundle.

The Joker is a fascinating and dark character.

My theory about cynicism is that it leads you to the truth something like 99% of the time. The extra 1% is a rounding error, but that’s where the good stuff is, a cynic might miss it.

Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds is a famous book by David Goggins, an athlete and soldier. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve heard about it.

M*A*S*H started in 1972 and continued until 1983 releasing 256 episodes (a nice binary number!).

This Town looks pretty interesting! It premiered on 31 March this year (2024) and tells the story of a band’s formation against a backdrop of violence.

Entrapment should be illegal. In some jurisdictions, it is!

The expression from the river to the sea is a political phrase that refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an area formerly known as Palestine. The implications of the phrase depend on who is saying it and what they mean.

The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict proposes to resolve the conflict by establishing two nation states in former Mandatory Palestine. The implementation of a two-state solution would involve the establishment of an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel. The two-state solution is widely supported in the international community, as well as by the Palestinian Authority; however, Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state. One of my friends told me that they used to think this was a good idea, but now don’t believe it would be workable. I personally am not well informed enough to have an opinion on this one.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a satirical poem and Black Liberation song by Gil Scott-Heron: Gil Scott Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band from Chicago, USA. Their album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness featured significantly in my adolescence. We discussed their song 1979. Cool track.

The Holocaust is an example of when the bureaucracy didn’t save us. It was perpetrated by a bureaucracy. The essay on bureaucracy that I typed up is here: Inside Bureaucracy.

Homophily is a concept in sociology describing the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the proverb “birds of a feather flock together”. The presence of homophily has been discovered in a vast array of network studies: over 100 studies have observed homophily in some form or another, and they establish that similarity is associated with connection. The categories on which homophily occurs include age, gender, class, and organizational role.

She’s all kinds of fucked up, but she’s fucking cool.

If you don’t know where to start, just start anywhere!

Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury is an album featuring the track Television, the Drug of the Nation.

I’m not a criminal, I just want some drugs.

I have done a little crypto programming (Programming Lore says you should never do this, because it is fraught with peril). I have a PHP library called kickass-crypto which aims to make using PHP encryption library facilities a little easier. Not sure I succeeded. My blowfish implementation for JavaScript and PHP known as pccipher got listed on Bruce Schneier’s website, one of my triumphs in life. :)

Good name for a beer: No Alarms. (I think maybe that was the beer talking? I suspect this remark was inspired by Radiohead – Karma Police)

The xkcd comic I mentioned is this one: Dependency. It indicates how flimsy some of our practices are.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is awesome. I will get you a copy. <3

You can use the pulse reflection method to locate a fault in a cable. A pulse induced at the starting end of the cable reaches the cable fault with a speed of v/2 and then is reflected back toward the starting end of the cable. The elapsed time multiplied by the diffusion speed v/2 gives the distance to the source of the fault.

I think I’m paranoid (lyrics).

Judith Lucy wrote a few books. I read Drink, Smoke, Pass Out (because for me that title was clickbait) which was fun.

You mentioned Metallica: Some Kind of Monster again. I still haven’t got around to watching it!

“Existential angst” and “existential dread” mean the same thing. They refer to the horror and unease one can feel when they become aware of their temporary place in a vast universe and the responsibility they have for their own actions.

We discussed Adele – Hello, hello from the other side.

And to wrap up I have a note here that says “Colorize”. And that’s all it says. I can’t remember what that was about..?