One Of The Things That’s Really Struck Me While Rereading The Lord Of The Rings–knowing Much More

my dream of learning a little of everything gets a lot easier when they're all related :D

So the other night during D&D, I had the sudden thoughts that:

1) Binary files are 1s and 0s

2) Knitting has knit stitches and purl stitches

You could represent binary data in knitting, as a pattern of knits and purls…

You can knit Doom.

However, after crunching some more numbers:

The compressed Doom installer binary is 2.93 MB. Assuming you are using sock weight yarn, with 7 stitches per inch, results in knitted doom being…

3322 square feet

Factoring it out…302 people, each knitting a relatively reasonable 11 square feet, could knit Doom.

"Cheer up!" Said she.

"Alas, no cheer there either."

sir gawain would do numbers on tumblr

This week on: Do I Want to Be Diane Duane or Read Every Word She's Ever Written

Diane Duane really is the where's waldo of authors. Like oh, I just finished, Star Trek (TOS), those Star Trek books look pretty cool. Huh that cover with Spock on it looks neat. Proceed to read one of my favorite novels in the entire world. Ok ok it's by Diane Duane. Gotta remember that. Starting TNG like yo it's Diane Duane again! She wrote this episode :). Oh well, I guess no more Diane Duane Star Trek as I have found all of them for my collection. Damn, well my friend really likes Spiderman/Venom. Her birthday's soon. Guess I should get her comic books? And with steel chair it's Diane Duane again! And oh wait, what other comics did she write? She wrote a comic book for Star Trek! Better read that! An X-men novel!! Hmmm, y'know I've been reading a lot of sci fi and comic books recently. I would really like to get back to my roots and read some fantasy, preferably with some wizards. Diane Duane once again snipes me from the google recommend books page. Doing some research on Barbie to get ready for the Barbie Movie. Barbie: FairyTopia is cowritten by Diane Duane and Elise Allen. A bomb is dropped on my house. Watching a video essay on Batman because it's 2AM and youtube thinks I might like that. I've never watched Batman the animated series, but I guess I'll give it a try. Diane Duane strikes once again. Talking with my friends about their favorite authors and where they live during a vacation in Ireland. Huh I actually don't know where Diane Duane lives. Look it up and get punched into next week. Get tumblr. Ha that was a funny! Waldo once again has been sighted.

TL;DR: Diane Duane has got range and I haven't looked up all the things she's done and keep getting pleasantly surprised.

Just realized I’m driving home through part of Arizona that’s considered an unofficial dark sky reserve and decided to pull onto an off-road.

It’s no wonder our ancestors believed gods lived in the sky. There are so many stars I can’t find the constellations. I’m not used to seeing them like this. Saying it looks like diamonds is damning it with faint praise. I CAN SEE THE EDGE OF THE MILKY WAY.

It really does look like a bowl or a dome over the earth when you see it like this. The stars look closer. I think this is what “sublime” was actually coined to mean.

It’s probably a good thing I’m out here at a time of year it’s too cold to stay long. I’d be bent back over my hood staring straight up for way, WAY too long and then not get home until midnight, assuming I could get back into an upright position.

But oh! If you ever have a chance to see it…stop and do. Take a few minutes. You’ve never seen anything so lovely.

Also: I think Aragorn gets a bad reputation now because so many lesser franchises have tried to imitate his archetype without understanding why he works. In the original movies he’s just a big gentle sad guy with a sword, who knows he’s not the real hero of the story and dedicates himself to supporting those gay little hobbits. The aragorn knockoffs are not his fault

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

This is lovely advice.

What makes me love this even more is seeing this stay the same no matter what year you met it in, what series or medium you started with, or how old you were.

It feels like it is all made for all of us, and we get to love the whole franchise, and the whole fandom. And then it's impossible not to love the little Trekkie roots in ourselves.

i think star trek will stay with me forever.

it has injected me with a permanent joy and whimsy and helped me unlearn shame/cringe culture. most importantly, it makes me see the good in humanity.

star trek has affected me in ways i never knew media could affect me. it keeps me optimistic about humanity’s future, and inspires me to do what is right no matter what. star trek makes me unashamed to be myself, however nerdy or silly I may be.

star trek is so important to me and i have a feeling it always will be.

Into the Spider-Verse Brainrot - Jeff knows its Miles

Listen, I don't even care if this is an original thought. You're telling me, Jefferson can recognize Miles' stickers from his car. You're telling me Jefferson Davis can recognize Miles' art despite there being a million other stickers and pieces of art up around Brooklyn.

...and then Miles-as-Spiderman shows up, in a suit HE PAINTED, and the FIRST scenes where Jefferson sees Miles-as-Spiderman IN THE NEW SUIT are also the first scenes where Jefferson is suddenly on Spiderman's side.

Uh huh. The man knows it's Miles.

what kills me is

she was correct that this is a TOTALLY BRILLIANT and APPROPRIATE basis for a children's book, and

I would say I want to know what higher plane her mind is in, except, well, dare I say

...I'd need the theoretical physics for that

...reread, anyone?

absolutely no one:

Madeline L’Engle, writing a wrinkle in time at some point in the early 1960s: what are kids into these days? comparative religious studies and theoretical physics, right? Yeah?