A better sauce packet

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We’re all familiar with the ubiquitous ketchup packs and how cumbersome they can be to open and use. An ex-coworker on  Linkedin complained about this design. Rightfully so, it is so outdated. Here is a proposed upgrade to the famous sauce pack. Design shows the industrial process to create a better pack I would also … Read more

Maximum building height in European capitals

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If #Europe desires to increase #GNP, I believe it will have to forego the limitation on building max heights and eventually create more skyscrapers in their central districts. If you zoom out and look at all other world biz districts around the world, a critical density creates something akin to a human ‘chain reaction’ of … Read more

Tennis: Racket handle cap flare customization

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For Tennis Players seeking to customize their racket handle. Someone else on posted this solution on a tennis racket customization thread and wanted to show the results. I recently switched to Yonex rackets which are terrific but do no have the end ‘butt cap’ flare that some other brands such as Wilson do. Wilson is … Read more

Chess variant proposal – Guess Chess

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Written to Chess.com on Twitter/X @chesscom Does this variant of #chess exist? An interesting variant might be playing a game with manadatory premoves. Normal time controls. Your view of the opponent’s last move is masked. I call it #guesschess. To play guess chess over the board you could write down you move and then give … Read more

Quick thought: Canids howling on different tones

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When groups of Canids howl, often it is not on the same pitch. There may be an evolutionary reason for this. The reason why canids do howl generally falls under maintaining territory + identification/locating. My guess is that some benefits include: When a group howls at different tones, it allows the listener to ‘hear the … Read more

Quick thought: Governments need to listen for creative destruction

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Quick thought: While it is true that sharing your wealth is a potential disincentive to earning it, the primary issue of socialism/communist government structures regarding productivity is that it removes the process of creative destruction. More aptly that central planning can stay on a narrative even after that view becomes obsolete. This is most easily … Read more

Random thought: Central banks and foreign owned bonds

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Random thought. A foreign nation could become the de facto monetary policy player replacing the ‘central bank’ of a nation just by owning a majority of its bonds This means that when a nation undertakes to lower the interest rate etc. Any open market monetary policy could be undermined, by countering the central banks actions, … Read more

Random: Organ transplant rejection

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A potential strategy to avoid or further reduce potential rejection of an organ by a recipient may be to ‘slow’ accumulate the presence of the foreign body into the system over a long period of time.  This could work potentially with both biological and synthetic (plastic and metal) organs. Developing a tolerance to the foreign … Read more

The Good Whale Podcast [some speculation on Keiko]

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For those that have not listened, the Good Whale is a podcast about the story of Keiko the Orca, who famously starred in Free Willy. It’s an captivating podcast. They did an amazing job telling the story. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/podcasts/serial-good-whale.html Writing a bit of speculation and opinion here, after listening to the podcast and reading up on … Read more

Quick thoughts on the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto

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Lots of people have speculated on the identify of SN. I have a few thoughts on it and thought to list it out here. 1. Working for corporation / government entity who would own the code. I believe SN, was a cryptographic / security expert who was working in a situation, where any work they … Read more

A.I. Versus Other Tech Revolutions

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In thinking through other tech revolutions, there is some cause in my opinion to view A.I. slightly differently. While I do not think it is happening quite yet, if A.I. can eclipse the total capabilities of humanity, than it would be replacing labor with capital, in a full substitution. So long as the cost of … Read more

Reddit: Why do people love Inglorious Basterds so much?

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My reply posted to a question on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/UHMTjWqhFv Q: Why do people love Inglorious Basterds so much? A: There are many levels and intricacies to this film. The opening scene is certainly one, where you can clearly see multiple levels happening at once. Many other examples exist. Consider but one, the fact that the … Read more

Idea: Theater w aspects of cinema

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Idea: a play that combines elements of movies by using live cameras which display on large screens. It’s kind of like sports as well because you don’t remove the live theater aspect, but you also have the ability to see close-ups and more nuanced acting instead of having to project, which is very similar to … Read more

Idea: Canada can attract more tech companies by…

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Allowing those companies to choose how they spend their tax dollars.. One main reason why tech companies often go south (or domicile in Ireland) is simply taxation. Very easy to understand. While any company in Canada generally pays more as a share in taxes, which is a deterrent, there may be some companies who would … Read more

Deep Springs College

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Deep Springs College This educational institution is one of the only ones that really make sense to me. It only has about 30 students, admitting 10-15 each year. It’s a full scholarship school like Cooper Union. It’s 40 miles from the nearest town. Students spend a portion of their time operating a ranch which sustains … Read more

Moving Forward –> End of an era for alwinian.net 2009-2023

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Like an old VHS tape, it looks like the our bespoke wordpress theme, which ran like a well-oiled steam-engine on PHP 7.4 will no longer work with supported versions of PHP 8.x It’s an uncertain future for our bespoke theme based on Gigawatt and will post an image here for posterity.

Music Leadsheet: Heavy on the F’s

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Wrote out this groove. Please jam responsibly. Enjoy. PDF Version in concert pitch here: Heavy_on_the_F’s_(Groove) Concert PDF Version in Eb pitch here: Heavy_on_the_F’s_(Groove)_Eb_Version PNGs Below.  

Dogs in the wild: Thoughts on the domestication of our furry friends

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Dog at a campfire

This entry is published on Medium. You can find the entry here: https://medium.com/@alwinian/dogs-in-the-wild-b67e9ac95a2e A recent encounter with a bobcat while jogging had me thinking about how we must have domesticated our closest friends, dogs. While we can’t say for certain, deeper thinking about the circumstances can shift the probability in favor of one scenario over … Read more

The philosophy of Boethius

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Have just discovered the philosopher Boethius. Spending the night reading about him with many insights and revelations there. 🎓 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius

Old Room Major St – 2005

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Annex (Major st) circa – 2005. Miss and have tremendously fond memories of life in this world. There were many reasons to be happy there. Small and simple a life that it was. Probably working for wall st. webcasting at the time. Last year of university.

Art is a wasteful endeavor

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I realize one thing as I get older, which I did not while young. The pursuit of art, in the kind that becomes a symbol and changes the world, can be a most wasteful endeavor if lost, unused or forgotten. It can occupy the minds, hearts and talents of the brightest and best while giving … Read more

Quote of the Day: Glenn Gould on Beethoven

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Food for thought: Glenn Gould on why Beethoven is an admired composer.   Spoken notes before performing Piano Sonata 17 in D minor, op 31. The Tempest Sonata. Broadcast March 19, 1967   “…within every creative person there is an inventor at odds with a museum curator…and most of the startling things that happen in … Read more

Thinking about chess pieces as investments during a game

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#Chess Inspired while watching videos about AlphaZero. As a thought experiment, imagine that each piece is an investment, with the potential of certain pieces to be multiple times their initial value. A knight or bishop, normally worth 3 points may in time become +9 points during a game, such as the famous ‘octopus knight’ in … Read more