It's helpful to remember that we don't teach reading and writing to produce only poets and writers, but rather to improve thinking.
Yep. The author called me retarded 'cause I can't draw.
Cinema. On the advice of an Indian friend, I introduced myself to Bollywood by watching Slumdog Millionaire. (That same friend recommended Mamma Mia!, which I've heard elsewhere is terrible, but if I watch through a Bollywood eye, maybe it'll be art.) I kind of like the idea of a lazy day of learning, and watching significant films I would otherwise have missed probably isn't a total waste of time. If I could learn to listen to music without also needing visual distraction, there's probably something in that world, too.
No, I don't feel guilty about it. I've been listening to a History of Rome podcast on the treadmill, so I'm secure in my geekulinity.
Extracurricular. I can now also make the announcement I'd mentioned, since I passed my Technician Class license test this past Saturday: My call sign is KJ4JWS. I am now a licensed amateur radio operator, a.k.a., a "ham". Besides the natural progression in hamdom—the General Class is the next step and allows transmit privileges on even more of the spectrum—there's circuitry and antennas and all sorts of retrogeek cool stuff.
I suspect I'll have something to add, too, because from everything I've seen so far, these guys just don't get the modern Internet. They know a hell of a lot more than I about digital signal processing (DSP) and packets and protocols and all that stuff, but they don't seem to care about the content and what they can do with it. /chuckle. I asked at the meeting if there were someplace I could actually handle a radio before buying it—I mentioned the retro aspect of this hobby, right?—and they assured me that the club's website had all the information I needed. Yep. And about a thousand hits I didn't. Google without the ranking. Thanks. Oh, and every club has a web site just like it.
But Morse Code! Among hams (and perhaps universally across all license types) it's called "CW" (from "Continuous Wave") on the air and "code" as a language. I have wanted to know code since my Hardy Boys days. Now I have an excuse. It's no longer a requirement for much of anything in the way of licensing, but it'd still be cool to be that guy.
Music Theory. I finally remembered to have The Boy drag out his keyboard for me to use. I'll need to pick up a pile of D-cells sometime this weekend.
1 comment:
Mamma Mia was not the best, in my humble opinion. Annie liked it though. I really really want to see Slumdog Millionaire, I have been quite fascinated with Indian culture as of late. Good thing, at this rate, we might end up living there.
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