Angels
Here’s a beautiful hand-painted picture of some angels. With just a single glance, I’m sure my Loyal Readers will agree that their spirits soar. A second glance might not lead to the same conclusion, however. Actually, this lovely portrait is in the caroussel in Los Gatos we visited during the Fourth of July weekend. They had a lot more (by the same artist!) just as good as this one but, strangely, I failed to take their picture. Maybe we’ll go back so I can correct this oversight.
Speaking of Great Art, I think it would be appropriate to invite my Loyal Readers to submit Quality Photographs they feel would be suitable for viewing in the Morrowlife blog. This is a limited-time offer. Operators are standing by, so act now! Really. I’d love to showcase some Loyal Reader work here. At least until I find time to take some more pictures.
The days, they keep getting shorter. I’m busy, busy, busy at work, and now taking a substantial amount of work home to avoid being there until 7:00 every night. Yikes! At least they’re now giving me substantial responsibility and a little bit of authority to make decisions. Whatever were they thinking? I’ve been either eating, working, or home eveninging since I got home. Of course, home eveninging included a substantial amount of time in the spa under the heading of “activity,” so don’t get all emotional for me.
The weekend was pretty peaceful. We went to the library on Saturday so I could augment the Loyal Reader Book Club. I got a few good ones. Some are too nerdy to mention right now, but I’m reading a really interesting one, in a nerdy sort of way. It’s called The Romance of Engines. It’s by a Japanese guy who works for a manufacturer of large trucks and, as my notably intelligent Loyal Readers have probably guessed, it’s about engines. So far, I’m still in the early history of internal combustion, but he’s already discussed some pretty amazing technology developed to try to improve the efficiency of gasoline and diesel engines. Most of the basic science was done by the 1800s, and by early in the 20th century, they had tried a lot of really advanced stuff. The fact that most of it didn’t work, and in fact made things much worse, doesn’t take anything away from the coolness and inventiveness of the ideas. The book itself is an entertaining cross between history and science textbooks. We get the stories of the people and companies who invented new things along with a fairly detailed description of the math and physics behind their ideas, with illustrations ranging from pictures of vehicles and their engines to simple block diagrams of physical principles to detailed graphs of experimental results to basic equations and their applications. I’m really enjoying it. While the book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I suspect that one or two of my Loyal Readers might find it interesting. But probably not. Anyhow, it’s going on the Book Club list.
Let’s see, what else did I get? Oh, there’s a book called Basic Electronics that includes some elementary digital circuit design. Maybe too nerdy for the Club. There’s another one called The Success of Open Source. I don’t know what it says about open-source, but I intend to read it and find out. If it’s more general interest than how-to-program (and I think it will be – it got great reviews on Amazon), I’ll tell you all about it. Then there’s Cryptography for Dummies and The Elements of User Interface Design (kind of a weak point for Embedded Systems programmers like me, hence a topic of interest). You might not hear much more about those ones either.
I also get an Evelyn Waugh novel called Decline & Fall. I know nothing about it yet, other than that it was recommended by an author who likes P.G. Wodehouse’s work, so it might be good. I’ll refrain from adding it to the Book Club list until after I’ve read a little bit and determined whether it’s up to the Morrowlife Book Club’s high standards.
It was nice to hear from LRN5 in Friday’s comments. Your high Morrowlife standing is assured – at least for the time being. We’re pretty demanding around here.
Well, it’s time to stop writing and start reading some of those books. See you tomorrow.