Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I wish we could derive the rest of the phænomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles; for I am induced by many reasons to suspect that they may all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards each other, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from each other; which forces being unknown, philosophers have hitherto attempted the search of nature in vain; but I hope the principles here laid down will afford some light either to this or some truer method of philosophy." -- Sir Isaac Newton, in the preface to Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published 1687-07-05 (this quotation copied from the 1729 translation by Andrew Motte; if anyone cares to supply the original Latin to put alongside it, that'd be nifty see the first comment for the original Latin.)

[Hmm. Okay, yeah, I guess you could say that his work "afforded some light". Kinda like you could say that Lennon & McCartney or J.S. Bach "had a few hits".]

"I wish we could derive the rest of the phænomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles; for I am induced by many reasons to suspect that they may all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards each other, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from each other; which forces being unknown, philosophers have hitherto attempted the search of nature in vain; but I hope the principles here laid down will afford some light either to this or some truer method of philosophy." -- Sir Isaac Newton, in the preface to Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published 1687-07-05 (this quotation copied from the 1729 translation by Andrew Motte; if anyone cares to supply the original Latin to put alongside it, that'd be nifty)

[Hmm. Okay, yeah, I guess you could say that his work "afforded some light". Kinda like you could say that Lennon & McCartney or J.S. Bach "had a few hits".]

I have a clutter problem, partly from having too many activities with associated stuff that I want to have all "on top" at once for easy access when I switch gears, partly from just running out of spoons before I accomplish enough any straightening-up, and partly because I say too often, "but I might need this later".

Folks who know me personally may be relieved to hear that I noticed a probably useful thinking-shift this afternoon. While sorting through a box of papers, dividing them into stacks for "trash", "maybe read later", "file", "whoops that's months late now", and "oh that's where that got to", I caught myself repeatedly thinking, "I want to scan and OCR this, and throw away the paper."

Alas, I'm not yet set up to do that (I need to upgrade the nearly-full hard drive in my file server and make sure one of the scanners I've got will talk to Linux happily), but the mental shift here is probably way overdue. Of course, I need to get better about keeping my computer files organized too, but being able to have the same file appear in two different places at once without making another copy of it can be a big help there.

I still need to get my hands on a music-OCR program. Or get around to writing one.

And I want a pony librarian. (To help me work out the most useful organization scheme for my data.)

My plans for last night got rained out, but for a while, watching out the back window upstairs, I could see lightning bolts and fireworks in the same quadrant of the sky at the same time. (The weather pulled the Baltimore fireworks below the tree line for me, but the various displays to the south, southwest, and west seemed to be launching 'em up nice and high.)

I have a clutter problem, partly from having too many activities with associated stuff that I want to have all "on top" at once for easy access when I switch gears, partly from just running out of spoons before I accomplish enough any straightening-up, and partly because I say too often, "but I might need this later".

Folks who know me personally may be relieved to hear that I noticed a probably useful thinking-shift this afternoon. While sorting through a box of papers, dividing them into stacks for "trash", "maybe read later", "file", "whoops that's months late now", and "oh that's where that got to", I caught myself repeatedly thinking, "I want to scan and OCR this, and throw away the paper."

Alas, I'm not yet set up to do that (I need to upgrade the nearly-full hard drive in my file server and make sure one of the scanners I've got will talk to Linux happily), but the mental shift here is probably way overdue. Of course, I need to get better about keeping my computer files organized too, but being able to have the same file appear in two different places at once without making another copy of it can be a big help there.

I still need to get my hands on a music-OCR program. Or get around to writing one.

And I want a pony librarian. (To help me work out the most useful organization scheme for my data.)

My plans for last night got rained out, but for a while, watching out the back window upstairs, I could see lightning bolts and fireworks in the same quadrant of the sky at the same time. (The weather pulled the Baltimore fireworks below the tree line for me, but the various displays to the south, southwest, and west seemed to be launching 'em up nice and high.)