Category Archives: Stamford

Valley

Posted on February 16, 2019 by d4vid

Alita: Battle Angel is a two hour tour through the uncanny valley. Quite a letdown for a movie I’ve been waiting for since circa 2006.  However, I did enjoy the cameo stunt casting of the Big Boss, a famous actor with … Continue reading →

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Extrication

Posted on February 7, 2019 by d4vid

Reporter Kashmir Hill has written a fascinating series of articles called “Goodbye Big Five” (plus a technical follow-up with gory details) about systematically trying to block big tech companies from her family’s life, a week at a time. Week 1: Amazon … Continue reading →

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Oink

Posted on February 5, 2019 by d4vid

恭喜发财!  新年快乐! Today is Lunar New Year and, according to the Chinese zodiac, the start of the Year of the Pig! According to the Chinese myth, animals raced to the Jade Emperor’s call and the order in which they arrived are … Continue reading →

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Tinnitus

Posted on February 4, 2019 by d4vid

I just realized that my tinnitus is the room tone of my head.

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Indie

Posted on February 2, 2019 by d4vid

I finally had a chance to see a movie at this adorable little indie movie theater a short walk from my house. It has two screens and the walls are dotted with a series of backlit vignettes of 18th century … Continue reading →

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Remembrance

Posted on February 2, 2019 by d4vid

At one point, Kvothe from The Kingkiller Chronicle says he has been given “a memory so clean and sharp I have to be careful not to cut myself sometimes.” Mnemosyne was the Greek goddess of memory.  She was daughter of the Titans … Continue reading →

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Wrought

Posted on January 31, 2019 by d4vid

My friend Stephanie and I had a good conversation about Mike Nichols‘ assertion that there are only three types of scenes:  “negotiations, seductions, and fights.” She pointed out that this formulation excludes soliloquies or any sort of scene with fewer … Continue reading →

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Oligarchs

Posted on January 31, 2019 by d4vid

Know your Russia-linked oligarchs! Roman Abramovich:  Russian-born, he exercised his rights under the Law of Return to attain Israeli citizenship, allowing him to visit Britain visa-free. Aras Agalarov:  father of Azerbaijiani pop star Emin Agalarov (who is a client of … Continue reading →

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Crait

Posted on January 31, 2019 by d4vid

I woke up to find all of the streets white.  I genuinely didn’t know what it was.  Frozen rain from the night before?  Some sort of frost? Turns out…

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Antaean

Posted on January 30, 2019 by d4vid

In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Gaia.  He could never be defeated in wrestling because every time he was thrown to the ground, contact with his mother, the earth, revitalized him.  (Heracles was the one who … Continue reading →

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Collapse

Posted on January 28, 2019 by d4vid

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, so hydrogen fusion is a cheap source of energy for (main-sequence) stars.  As hydrogen runs out in a star’s core, it resorts to slightly more expensive helium fusion. When the outward … Continue reading →

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Bounty

Posted on January 19, 2019 by d4vid

There’s an Indian restaurant in Stamford that I’ve been frequenting, but I can’t read the name without thinking of  the Han Solo line “Well, the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind.”

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Compost

Posted on January 7, 2019 by d4vid

More from the State of the World 2019.  Great Bruce Sterling throwaway line: “Tomorrow composts today.”

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Philology

Posted on January 7, 2019 by d4vid

I have long heard people say (what I thought was) “What is your read?” when asking others for their opinion of something.  As if it were short for “What is your read of the situation?” However, I ran across it … Continue reading →

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Verbing

Posted on January 5, 2019 by d4vid
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