Inferential Weather Descriptions..

Rainbow over Kuala Lumpur

Thinking about it, I want to describe the weather better, shorter, more vivid than current listings of weather observations you might see on the news.

Photo

– Charcoal blue sky with lightning and rainbow

– soft splash of sun

A set of observations
—————————-
– day 1 – a winter day in sydney – 15th July 2011
  • blue grey sky – it was blue with grey clouds
  • soft dry shadow – the clouds were diffusing the light a bit , there had been no rain so the ground was dry
  • cool still trees – it was cool, there was no wind
– Observation : Weather : 16 July 2011
  • All Grey Sky
  • fuzzy wet  shadow
  • cold still trees

GENERAL IDEA

There are a number of different things to describe –

Lets start with the sky –

Everyone likes to say, the color of a sky, like blue, grey, dark, bright etc. – the sky reflects or transmits the light from space around it, or through it.  So sky has to be described by one or more colors.

Everyone likes to know whether it is windy or still.  So the best way to describe that might be describing the impact of the wind or the air on the trees around.

For example :-

  • still tree
  • wavy grass
  • bending tree
  • broken tree
for rotating winds, you might describe it differently
  • spinning paper
  • willy willy
  • tornado
I find I often want to say about frost or snow or ice
I find I often want to describe the quality of light in terms of contrast and sharpness like –
  • soft shadow
  • hard shadow
  • firm shadow
  • blurry shadow
  • no shadow
But shadow also calls to mind surface, typically the ground surface.  So you could also describe that surface by either
  • dry
  • wet
  • damp
  • cold
  • hot
You could describe pollution in terms of air quality like
  • clean
  • dirty
On By cjx07sterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

What’s in an empty circle mate ?

On By cjx07sterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have a flat plane, white, for simplicity, and contrast, I have a random selection of black dots on the plane, as far as i can look in any direction, my white plane surface is covered in black dots.  All of the dots are pretty much the same, when seen from a great height. Little black specks scattered on the white.

Someone comes along and begins to trace a circle among the dots.  Eventually there is say a red circle, with black dots inside and other black dots outside the circle.  Some of the black dots, are actually sitting on the black outline of the circle.

I make an observation, that the dots inside the circle, are now defined by the circle.  In other words, the dots inside the circle take on the characteristic, or attribute of being inside the circle, from the point of view of the observer, who can see the circle, from way up above the plane.

The dots inside the circle can see a couple of dots in the nearby area, but in general the dots have no idea, whether they belong inside the circle or not.  It really is just the dots near the edge of the circle that know that they are on one side of a line or not.

Since the circle is large, even the dots near the edge of the circle don’t know that it is a circle.  What they surmise is that the line separates them from the dots just on the other side of the line.  Thus, the dots near the edge of the circle, have a knowledge that there are dots, which are no longer like them, merely because these dots exist now on the other side of the line in the vicinity.

In fact none of the dots actually know that they are either inside or outside a circle.  Only the clever dot, which got a bit of red and drew a line on the white plane and called the circle ‘circle of red enclosing dots’ knew or knows of the existence of the circle.

So another enterprising dot got up and thought, circles….mmmm….. ok he got a piece of yellow chalk, and started drawing a circle around another group of dots on the plane.

He called this circle “The Yellow circle enclosing dot’s which are not in a circle”.

Up until the moment, he published the name of the circle, all the dots were reasonable ok with their existence.

He first published the existence of the yellow circle to his friends only, non of whom were inside the yellow circle.  Everyone was impressed that he could define such a set of dots inside his yellow circle.

Things started going very wrong when he published the existence of the yellow circle to the dots which were inside the circle.  These dots suddenly became aware of the yellow circle and the fact that they had been classified in such a contradictory way !  How dare the yellow circle creator define them in such an arbitrary way., and without any kind of permission.

Should they opt out ? – this would make them very normal and boring dots.

Should they remain in ? – and live life in fear and contradiction.

Or should they wait until the rains came and rubbed out the yellow line thus defining them.

Innovation 13 – Dualities provoking Extensible thought

On By cjx07sterIn Automata, Control, Engineering, InnovationLeave a comment

Use a set of ‘Dualities’ for features of the current commonly used solution to innovate

Innovation often starts from a pressing need which is not currently addressed by a particular solution, or any known solution, which fits a certain set of constraints.  Often the constraints are fairly stable over time, and much of society runs on past innovations which have become super stable and normal over time.  Suddenly there is a pressing need, for change, or something changed, provoking a change or response, which once again can be decided as a new need.

One way of looking at fast innovation is to look at the dual characteristics of something which exists and which would approximate that need.  Maybe something changed ? only a minor thing, not a major thing.

Write down the characteristics of the current normal object or thing, listing features, listing characteristics as much as possible.  Write down all of these separate characteristics in a two column list.

Then in the second column of the list, write down the opposite of the feature in the first column.

Once you get a list of opposites or the ‘dual’ of the feature in the second column.  Look through it and see if you can guess what combination of dual features might help you solve the new need.

Often innovations require a change of more than one feature or a set of features to change to cover the new need at the expense of other older needs which really we don’t solve any more. So with this approach, you can build new solutions and designs quickly based on a selection of ‘duals’ which can be rapidly prototyped.

Another method, slightly related is to take the feature dual, like {fast,slow} and expand it to {fast,slow,faster,slower}

Its just an idea, but it helps you understand WHY some features are important to the current usage, and which ones could be relaxed without too much trouble, and which if relaxed could allow new approaches and innovations to be created.

White Sails Blue at Santa Monica

On By cjx07sterIn Existentialism, TravelLeave a comment

“I just dropped by to say hello” I said, dropping laptop on office carpet

“Oh, thats ok.. I got some work to do, though, got to get this sent off to someone now.. who needs help” Caitlin said, looking up.

Glancing round, beige office walls, and colorful things on shelves, it was nice to be back in town, so I sat there and relaxed a bit, not facing Cait, but looking out her window, finger on temple, elbow on desk separating us. Thinking how it was always a bit awkward starting off again.  I knew we were both friends. And we had said that we liked each other.  We had chatted sporadically on a messenger. It seemed to talk would be awkward and forced.  I just sat there silently, wondering about stuff, while she worked. Occasional ticking of the wall clock, and one or two careful mouseclicks, and keystrokes filled the air with a kind of chaotic clicking.  In these measured quanta of silence with busy minds not talking, friendship settled into the room.  Both minds were aware of each other, but busy with their current things to do, eager to get to the next place in time, but enjoying the moment allowed by circumstance.

“So I might go down to the beach today” I said.  “The sunshine will do me good.  Maybe go North of the airport, maybe Santa Monica, I’ve never been there before, if I go north and beat the traffic, I can spend some time at the beach, then drive back down to the airport.  The flight is not until 11pm or so.”

The silence continued, after some time she said “Yes might be best to go early, the beach is pretty nice and there is a pier… look”, she said, swinging the monitor round, with a Google map opened, and moving and panning and zooming into the Santa Monica pier.  “Just go up 405, and turn left on Route 10, till you get to the beach”

I was looking at her while she was talking, nice clothes, quiet manner, confident with the keyboard, and casually professional. I liked her, no doubt, she liked me, no doubt.  No affair, no romance, it would be just this, a quiet liking friendship.

“Thanks, I said, I’ll be going then.  See you later then, till next time, I should be back in a few months.” I said, standing to go and lifting the laptop back on, and feeling good, relaxed, and now with a purpose for the afternoon, ready to hit the road and get going while it was early after lunch.

She looked at me then, she got up and carefully walked around the desk, and came over to me. Close up, her eyes friendly blue cool with white light.

I left and hit the road, and eventually toward sundown,  stood on the pier, with the fishing, and the crowds, and the sunshine, the end of route 66, the end of the road for the day. I loved the white sails on the blue water. moving, searching in the light, like the eyes of my friend, looking south west toward home from the pier at Santa Monica.

[a surreal story with fictional characters and non fictional places]