geraldew - Network

Just a quick note that I'll be somewhat indisposed over the next few weeks, so activity here will be minimal during that time.In...

Just a quick note that I'll be somewhat indisposed over the next few weeks, so activity here will be minimal during that time.

In particular my series of #BookOnMyShelf posts will be paused.

Any pending account and host decisions will also be adjourned until I have full access to resources again.

#BookOnMyShelfThis is Sweden CallingbyDes Mangan(c) 2004It was Des Mangan commentating the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest onsite for SBS that...

#BookOnMyShelf
This is Sweden Calling
by
Des Mangan
(c) 2004

It was Des Mangan commentating the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest onsite for SBS that converted our household into watching the competition.

This book followed and is a delightful combination of facts and the Mangan wit - he was already known for comedy rescripting of old movies and presenting quirky films on SBS.

See article at https://www.aussievision.net/post/des-mangan-australia-s-first-commentator-at-eurovision

From 2009 the Australian onsite presence at ESC has been continuous.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfComputer Related RisksPeter G. Neumann(c) 1995Something of an eye opener this book, to say the least.As I was by that point...

#BookOnMyShelf
Computer Related Risks
Peter G. Neumann
(c) 1995

Something of an eye opener this book, to say the least.

As I was by that point working in IT for a large organisation, gaining insights into how computers could be abused by those saw a chance to do so was an important shift in my thinking.

While I don't directly reference it any more, the things I learned in this book have played into many a "but what if.." point in work meetings across the decades.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfIron CagebyAndre Norton(c) 1974 (p) 1975This is my only book of hers, but that's because I mostly read them via the local...

#BookOnMyShelf
Iron Cage
by
Andre Norton
(c) 1974 (p) 1975

This is my only book of hers, but that's because I mostly read them via the local public library throughout the 1970s.
I remembered this title so well that I bought this old hardcover copy sometime in the 2000s.
Others I recall are: Breed to Come, Crosstime Agent, Victory on Janus

She wrote so much, they must surely vary in worthiness, but I only remember joyful reading (if sometimes a bit scary).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfOne-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3Compiled byColin Thiele & Greg Branson(c) 1964 (p) 1969For a generation of...

#BookOnMyShelf
One-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3
Compiled by
Colin Thiele & Greg Branson
(c) 1964 (p) 1969

For a generation of Australian school children, this book series will be familiar.

I don't remember which of these plays we "did" (i.e. read out or acted) but for me the standout was "The Fall of the City" by Archibald MacLeish, which I merely read by myself.

I thought I also had Book 1 but must have disposed of them both as this copy is a 1990s re-purchase.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfMagritte - The True Art Of PaintingbyHarry Torcyzner(c) 1979I have a few art books on/of Magritte, but this one is definitely...

#BookOnMyShelf
Magritte - The True Art Of Painting
by
Harry Torcyzner
(c) 1979

I have a few art books on/of Magritte, but this one is definitely my favourite.

Written by someone who knew him personally it is full of anecdotes about both René and Georgette, which over the whole book provide an insight (or perhaps the illusion of one) into the artist's mind.

Fitting I guess, as maybe surrealism is the most "mental" of the art movements.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe CyberiadbyStanislaw LemA personal favourite, I was introduced to these stories by another book on my shelf - more about...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Cyberiad
by
Stanislaw Lem

A personal favourite, I was introduced to these stories by another book on my shelf - more about that later sometime.

Having read the Asimov robot stories in the 1980s maybe I expected something similar, but these are both more subtle and more intellectually playful.

The human/robot dichotomy is absent as the two main characters are themselves capable of constructing all kinds of things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cyberiad
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Light That Never WasbyLloyd Biggle Jnr(c) 1972 (p) 1980This was the first book I read by this author. My database says I...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Light That Never Was
by
Lloyd Biggle Jnr
(c) 1972 (p) 1980

This was the first book I read by this author. My database says I have six of them.

While he definitely wrote science fiction, all his novels are notable for having some aspect of art or culture as a theme.

I do think one of the others is his masterpiece, so more about that some other time, but clearly this one was good enough to make me want to read more from this author.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Incredibly Strange Film Book - An alternate history of cinemabyJonathon Ross(c) 1993 (p) 1993My memory is that I saw the...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Incredibly Strange Film Book - An alternate history of cinema
by
Jonathon Ross
(c) 1993 (p) 1993

My memory is that I saw the TV series of this (on SBS Australia) and then bought the book.

I had a period in the 1990s where, having a VCR and a "video library" at the end of my street, I trawled all they had of the vampire movie genre.

I thereby understood the fascination Jonathon Ross had for these various backwater niches of film making.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfMathematical Puzzles and DiversionsbyMartin Gardner(c) 1959 (p) 1982Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American were a...

#BookOnMyShelf
Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
by
Martin Gardner
(c) 1959 (p) 1982

Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American were a touchstone for my interest in mathematics, very much in parallel with what I learned in school.

Intersections with the magazine were sporadic so in adulthood I bought the books of collected columns whenever I saw them.

I think this was the first I got - but I only ever got five of the fifteen that he put out (alas one is now missing).
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfColeridge - Selected PoemsbySamuel Taylor Coleridge(c) 1965 (p) 1965I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of poetry and...

#BookOnMyShelf
Coleridge - Selected Poems
by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(c) 1965 (p) 1965

I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of poetry and probably haven't bought any since my twenties.

However I did take a liking to Coleridge, and his experiments with meter. I bought this book - second hand - in order to have and to read ".. Ancient Mariner" - already knowing "Kubla Khan" from a high school book.

But it was "Christabel" that I discovered herein and became my favourite poem of his.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfChaosbyJames Gleick(c) 1987 (p) 1988While I'd love to claim I already knew this stuff, like many people, that was really...

#BookOnMyShelf
Chaos
by
James Gleick
(c) 1987 (p) 1988

While I'd love to claim I already knew this stuff, like many people, that was really via the cover article of Scientific American in August 1985.

But it was this book a few years later that gave me a thorough grounding in it all.

Like many books of that (pre-Internet access) time, I read and re-read it a lot.

Much of the content has informed my understanding of both physics and (importantly) data ever since.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfA Tolkein BestiaryDavid Day(c) 1979 (p) 1989While I'm not changing my hashtag, this is really "should be on my...

#BookOnMyShelf
A Tolkein Bestiary
David Day
(c) 1979 (p) 1989

While I'm not changing my hashtag, this is really "should be on my shelf" - because I haven't seen it since the move from Perth to Melbourne (whole other story).

Anyway, this was the book that really helped me make sense of Tolkein's created world. And is why I was then able to read both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

A friend had this and I liked it so much I bought myself a copy too.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfGreat Moments in ArchitectureDavid MacAulay(c) 1978In a comment field in the database, I've annotated this as...

#BookOnMyShelf
Great Moments in Architecture
David MacAulay
(c) 1978

In a comment field in the database, I've annotated this as "Artistic satire" which is about right. A book of visual jokes and puns, all rendered with ink pen, being created well before the digital age.

I can't tell if I bought it new, it seems more scuffed than for that to be true, but I would have handled it a lot over the years. I like that it straddles the boundary of regular and domain specific humour.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareOxford University Press (c) 1904 (p) 1943This was my father's hardcover copy, the...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Oxford University Press (c) 1904 (p) 1943

This was my father's hardcover copy, the paper jacket quite torn at the edges and his formal name is written inside. He either bought it during the war or within ten years after it. I doubt he read it much, he just liked having books.

I took it to university in 1980 and have had it ever since. I have a paperback edition for carting around but I prefer to read from this older one.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfAlbum Cover AlbumThe Book of Record Jackets Edited by Hipgnosis & Roger Dean(c) 1977 (p) 1985Having grown up in the heyday...

#BookOnMyShelf

Album Cover Album
The Book of Record Jackets Edited by Hipgnosis & Roger Dean
(c) 1977 (p) 1985

Having grown up in the heyday of 12 inch LPs, a book like this is nostalgia now, but at the time of purchase (per-Internet) it was a catalogue of the visual delights that were starting to vanish with the CD era.

I also have numbers 2, 3 and 5 in the subsequent series. I expect I bought these from after 1989 when I finally had a steady income after many lean years.
#Bookstodon

But I'd still like to find an SQL method for doing the multivariate distance.I don't need it to be strictly in "pure" SQL...

But I'd still like to find an SQL method for doing the multivariate distance.

I don't need it to be strictly in "pure" SQL as the goal is just to avoid the callout, so any use of features custom to Teradata SQL will be good enough.

I see Teradata has a table function for making a covariance matrix, so hopefully I just need clarity over how to take it from there.

But can I find time or enthusiasm to wade through enough "how to calculate" tutorials to find my solution path?
#SQL #mathstodon

Back on tech matters, lately I've been revisiting the Mahalanobis distance.I had an intention ten years ago to seek an SQL method for...

Back on tech matters, lately I've been revisiting the Mahalanobis distance.

I had an intention ten years ago to seek an SQL method for deriving it, but it never became pressing enough, and the process using it - via an external call out - was only once once annually.

Returning to the same process ten years later, I've dug a little deeper and found that the callout had only been doing on each separate "variable" - and was thus equivalent to doing each as a simple "z-score".
#SQL #mathstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Cambridge Encyclopedia of LanguagebyDavid CrystalA 1994 reprint of a 1987 edition.This is a book that I used to read...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
by
David Crystal
A 1994 reprint of a 1987 edition.

This is a book that I used to read various sections of - as if it was a magazine left lying around to pass the time.

Despite being monolingual, languages generally fascinate me. I suspect it was programming that led me to feel that way, as I had no such interest during my school years.

And opera, which always seems to sound better when sung in "other" languages.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfRealms of FantasybyRobert Holdstock & Malcolm EdwardsThis is a book about books and/or sets of books, with accompanying...

#BookOnMyShelf
Realms of Fantasy
by
Robert Holdstock & Malcolm Edwards

This is a book about books and/or sets of books, with accompanying artwork. I now forget quite which of the works I already knew about or had read versus those that this book pointed me to.

Certainly, I already knew Tolkein and the Gormenghast trilogy but maybe this told me about Gene Wolfe and his Urth books.

Le Guin's Earthsea might have been similar though I probably knew of their good reputation.
#Bookstodon