My invitation is here to attend this year’s National Cartoonists Society Reubens Award dinner in August. A potential scheduling conflict has arisen, but that won’t stop me from registering.
Graphs for Fun and Profit
Ah, graphs. Those ubiquitous things with a horizontal X-axis and a vertical Y-axis, providing a visual representation of the relationship between at least two sets of data.
I was made aware of graphs in junior high school (as middle school used to be called) math classes. Graphs dominated my Economics studies in college. I especially remember the marginal utility graphs presented in Microeconomics classes.
Before I retired, exactly nine years ago, I tested the performance of storage area network systems under a simulated database load. I used the resulting spreadsheet data to generate graphs that compared the number of read and write operations per second to the latency required to perform those actions. Such fun!
Not wanting to miss an opportunity to get in a dig at Trump, here’s a graph of crude oil prices over the past five years, up to yesterday. (Brent is the premium grade of oil from the North Sea region.)
After being introduced to graphs, it wasn’t until the 11th grade that I came to appreciate, and even like, graphs. It didn’t happen in a math class; instead, it was when I started reading hi-fi magazines and seeing frequency response curves that compared amplitude against frequency in loudspeakers.
Lately, I’ve been having fun by comparing the frequency response curves of inexpensive in-ear monitors. These two super sounding Chinese IEM models each cost less than $20.
Between 400 Hz and ~2800 Hz they measure essentially identically. They diverge below and above that frequency range. It’s amazing how seemingly minor discrepancies result in such significant differences in overall sound.
If anyone were to ask me which IEM I prefer, based purely on sound I’d favor the Wan’er. But I would recommend the Gate to others over the Wan’er, because it has the better and more comfortable fit, a better cable, and it comes with a case.
14th Amendment on Trial
The 14th Amendment can’t be rescinded by the Supreme Court, but can it be rendered essentially moot?
With Trump attending the oral arguments, it’s important to keep in mind how Melania’s parents were granted American citizenship.
Then there’s Trump’s use of a mail-in ballot while simultaneously denouncing voting by mail. He’s the ultimate “do as I say, not as I do” president.
A Year-Round April Fool
The self-proclaimed master deal maker, who has failed to negotiate a deal with Iran, unlike the Obama administration, will address the nation tonight. After what I hope will be a successful launch of the Artemis II Moon mission.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/01/live-artemis-ii-launch-day-updates/
An additional thought. America is great because it’s a Secular Democracy. Trump and fanatical right-wing Christians want America to be like Iran. Trump, because Iran is run by an authoritarian regime, and Christians because Iranian society is ruled by religious laws.
An Imminent Political Opportunity
This just came out and I haven’t watched it yet, but I will.
I wonder if the team from The Washington Post that worked on this report is still there, post-layoff.
The Big “C”
I suppose there are now two “Big C” medical conditions, with Covid being the one that’s recent and, for now, of lesser concern. As is clearly explained in this PBS Newshour segment, stage 1 colorectal cancer is usually free of symptoms. It’s caught in screening, as happened in my case.