Ramblings on Rinsland's Corner

Good Friday

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 10:46:56 -0500

Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum

᾽Ιησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾽Ιουδαίων

יֵשׁוּעַ הַנָּצְרִי מֶלֶךְ הַיְּהוּדִים Or ܝܼܫܘܿܥ ܢܵܨܪܵܝܵܐ ܡܲܠܟܵܐ ܕܝܼܗܘܼܕܵܝܵܐ

Hebrew or Aramaic, depending on how you interpret the word the Greek word “Hebraisti (Ἑβραϊστί )” in John 19:20. Aramaic was a common language (along with Greek) of the area at the time, and a likely choice. However, Pilate was highly displeased with the Jewish Sanhedrin, and may have had it written in Hebrew, their ecclesiastical language (and is explicitly a Jewish language), as a dig at them specifically. Which considering their response, may have hit the mark. There is, I think, significant evidence to believe it is written in Hebrew.

AI Art Is A Defined Form Of Art

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 08:26:37 -0600

AI Art Generation is a form of Conceptual or Post-Conceptual Art.

Allow me to explain. Here is a definition of Conceptual Art: Art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered equal to or more important than its appearance or execution.

How it fits: If an artist has an idea of what they want to see but aren’t too worried about the outcome, so they create a prompt and regenerate over and over again until they get something they like, that would be Post-Conceptual Art. See John Baldessari’s post-conceptual piece “Throwing Four Balls In The Air To Get A Square (Best of 36 Tries)” from 1973 as a non-AI related example of this.

Thoughts on a Conservative Viewpoint Regarding Ukraine

Mon, 15 May 2023 08:23:02 -0500

I don’t agree with certain Conservative Policies but I usually understand them. Except for their stance on Ukraine. “We shouldn’t be supporting the war, we should be focusing on trying to broker a peace deal.”

Bullshit.

Like what does an actual peace look like to them? Just giving Russia a significant chunk of Ukraine? Yeah, that’ll go over well with Ukrainians. Russia giving back all the land they’ve taken in the war? Yeah, that’ll go over well with the Russians. And there’s no middle ground for the same reason, someone in this war is going to get the short stick, either Ukraine is going to permanently lose land to a conquering Russia, or Russia is going to have sacrificed tens of thousands of people for a fraction of what they wanted.

Types of Artist

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 12:48:12 -0500

I saw a post somewhere about there being four different types of artists.

Those who do it for the money
Those who are in it for the attention
Those who do it because they like the process,
Those who do it for for the results. There’s definitely a venn diagram for these, but the differences go a long way to explaining why some artists have an issue with AI Art while others don’t.

If you’re in it for the attention, you probably have a massive issue with the average person being able to create things they spent years learning how to do, nevermind the time spent and carving out their own niche in the community, and it’s in your own best interest to gatekeep the art community to avoid losing your supposed power and influence.

A Response to JoJoes Art

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 08:19:26 -0600

I am responding to a post he made on his facebook page here, his words are in italics.

Is this the future we want for art? AI art tools like Lensa App, Midjourney or Stable Diffusion have recently taken the world by storm. It’s impressive what these applications are capable of but most people aren’t aware of the very worrisome implications this trend has for the future of art:

That time in the 1904 Olympics

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:12:05 -0600

I ran across this on reddit somewhere a while ago, posted it on FB, and am now posting it here because it needs to be seen.

There’s bizarre history, and then there’s the Marathon at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis History.

The first place finisher did most of the race in a car. He had intended to drop out, and got a car back to the stadium to get his change of clothes, and just kind of started jogging when he heard the fanfare.
The second place finisher was carried across the finish line, legs technically twitching, by his trainers. They had been refusing him water, and giving him a mixture of Brandy and Rat Poison for the entire race. Doping wasn’t illegal yet (and this was a terrible attempt at it), so he got the gold when the First guy was revealed.
Third finisher was unremarkable, somehow.
Fourth finisher was a Cuban Mailman, who had raised the funds to attend the Olympics by running non-stop around his entire country. He landed in New Orleans, and promptly lost all of the travelling money on a riverboat casino. He ran the race in dress shoes and long trousers (cut off at the knee by a fellow competitor with a knife). He probably would have come in first (well, second, behind the car) had it not been for the hour nap he took on the side of the track after eating rotten apples he found on the side of the race.
9th and 12th finishers were from South Africa, and ran barefoot. South Africa didn’t actually send a delegation – these were students who just happened to be in town and thought it sounded fun. 9th was chased a mile off course by angry dogs. Note: These are the first Africans to compete in any modern Olympic event.
Half the participants had never raced competitively before. Some died.
St. Louis only had one water stop on the entire run. This, coupled with the dusty road, and exacerbated by the cars kicking up dust, lead to the above fatalities. And yet, somehow, Rat Poison guy survived to get the Gold. The one water stop was an intentional design choice and not simply lack of oversight. The director wanted to test his theory on “purposeful dehydration” -during a marathon, on unpaved roads, while it was over 90F outside…
The Russian delegation arrived a week late, because they were still using the Julian calendar. In 1904.

Political Ads

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 11:32:10 -0500

It should be a law that political ads for candidates to be positive ads only. You can hype up anyone you want, but you are not allowed to attack any particular candidate via paid ad.

If you want to differentiate yourself from your opponent, then I suggest having a platform worth voting for.

The only thing attack ads do is make me want to vote for the person you’re attacking, and it directly contributes to the destruction of political discourse.

2022 All Quiet On the Western Front Review

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 10:24:13 -0500

The new All Quiet on the Western Front movie is a fantastic WWI movie. It really, really is.

But it bears a resemblance to the book in name and character names only, which is massively disappointing. It did its own thing, and while it definitely showed the brutality of trench warfare, it missed everything else about what made the original story so powerful. The entire point of the book’s ending and how it relates to the title is gone.

The 2nd Amendment is not about Firearms.

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 07:26:05 -0500

Erik Ramsay posted this on a Facebook group I’m in and gave permission to share it far and wide.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

When this was written it was considered to be in plain language, but language can drift over time; meanings change, words fall in and out of common usage, and so the meaning of a phrase can be obscured over time. Take a look at that same concept, but applied to books:

A Fun Fact For The Day

Sun, 08 May 2022 09:23:17 -0500

I found this years ago on reddit and saved it. So now I’m posting it here.

Barack Obama became President of the United States because People Magazine thought actor Garret Wang was attractive.

Here’s how it went down:

At the end of Voyager series 3, the writers wanted to introduce a new character, but because the budget only allowed for a certain number of main actors, they had to let one of them go. Originally this was going to be Harry Kim, played by Garrett Wang, who had been very vocal in his hate for the show. (This is why there’s a weird cliffhanger with him about to die that gets almost immediately overturned in series 4). People Magazine then ran a list of the Hottest 50 Men which included Wang. Seeing he was popular, they decided to get rid of the character Kes, played by Jennifer Lien, whose character they thought they’d messed up a bit and run out of ideas. Since Kes leaving left them with only two major female characters, they decided to make their new character female as well, leading to them making Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan. For filming, she had to move to California, which put strain on her already damaged relationship with Jack Ryan and led to their divorce. In 2004, the messy details of their divorce came out, forcing Jack Ryan to stand down from running for the position of Senator of Illinois, allowing a relatively new Barack Obama to win. Four years later, Obama became President of the US.

What WoW’s Dragonflight Trailer Lacks

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 09:22:34 -0500

Every World of Warcraft trailer has always been extremely hyped, leaving you with a sense of wonder and excitement, and a knowledge of what the game or expansion is bringing to the table. The Vanilla trailer showed off the the main conflict (”The tenuous pact between the Horde and the Alliance has all but evaporated, the drums of war, thunder once again”), the inhabitants, and was an invitation to explore and experience this world and its conflicts. Burning Crusade’s cinematic showed off the two new races as well as Outland areas, but it had a major high point with all Illidan (”You are not prepared!”) that really set up thematically the entire series and got people hyped for it. Oh my god we’re going to go through this Dark Portal and fight this demon looking dude and it looks epic!

The Best Anime I watched in 2021

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 10:34:40 -0600

Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice) [Anime and Manga] The manga is a deeply emotional experience, and it has a single panel with Shouko, one of the major characters, laying on a bed that I consider one of the most heart wrenching moments in a manga I’ve ever experienced. It’s a story about bullying, redemption, friendship, and hardship. It’s very heavy, as it revolves around a deaf girl who spend a part of her youth being bullied. But told from the perspective of her bully. The movie will make people cry, but it’s just a cliffs’ notes version of the manga. Definitely one of the most impactful things I’ve read and seen in a very long time.

Manga Current Reads January 2022 Edition

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 11:14:38 -0600

DanDaDan DanDaDan is weird. Really, really weird. In a WTF is going on I need more kind of way. I don’t really know where it’s going but I am really enjoying the characters. Momo Ayase believes in ghosts and supernatural, due to her grandmother (who is hilarious) being an exorcist. She does not believe in the existence aliens/ufos/etc. Ken Takakura is the exact opposite, he believes in aliens/ufos/etc, and does not believe in the existence of the supernatural. They challenge each other to visit a specific place that is ‘well known’ to (in Ken’s case) be a supernatural hotspot or (in Momo’s case) be an alien sighting spot. Turns out aliens exist, and the supernatural is real, and they wind up fighting for their lives. This manga goes from 0 to 100 really quick, with a fast pace, horror elements, and comedy wrapped into a coming-of-age adolescence story. I am really enjoying this one.

Superhero Comics Require Gun Control

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 08:17:27 -0600

Superhero comics take place in a world post-gun control. The only people with guns are law enforcement, common criminals, or the occasional antiheroes (the Punisher, for example). It’s clearly not because guns are ineffective at fighting various powered-people related crime, after all a gun is far more capable than an arrow, and archery is effective enough for multiple major superheroes to build an identity around it.

Welcome to the New Age

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 13:07:09 -0500

I got these pictures from this twitter thread, and am posting them here so they won’t be forgotten. They are truly powerful images that show just how messed up and truly dystopian things are now.

Welcome to the new world. Things have changed greatly in the last few years, and it hasn’t been for the better.

A Problem With Alt Social Media Sites

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 09:52:44 -0500

I love looking around at new, more privacy oriented and/or distributed social media sites. MeWe, Parler, Gab, Mastodon, Diaspora, Minds, Bastyon, Ruqqus, Odysee, etc. etc.

However, all these sites have a problem (well, Odysee seems to have gotten past it), and that problem is people don’t really go to these sites to socialize and share. They go to these places to vent. Usually about censorship and politics and to say/share things that would (or did) get them banned from the major social media sites. Users post all kinds of fringe news, conspiracy theories, and/or highly vitriolic memes.

Science, Abortion, and a Pro-Life stance

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 10:08:33 -0500

Snagged from a social media site.

“Scientifically speaking, a distinct human life exists from conception onward. Life, because it meets the biological criteria for life; human, because it contains the human genome and is at the beginning of a human lifecycle; distinct, because its genome is different from the mother’s and (barring accidents, disease, or malice) it will continue to exist even after its mother’s death.

Personal Update 4-18-2021

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:31:57 -0500

I sprained my back last Sunday, and had to visit the doctor to make sure it wasn’t anything more serious like a spinal issue or something. Got sent to get an x-ray, was given some strong meds, and told to stay flat in bed for a couple days. I’m feeling much better now, aside from some slight soreness, and I’ll probably begin some limited exercise next week. Unfortunately I had planned on moving a bunch of stuff around the house and reorganizing things, and all that is going to have to wait.

Gun Violence and Statistics

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 15:13:57 -0500

I ran across this on the internet today and felt it really needed to be saved somewhere public.

There are about 30,000 gun related deaths per year by firearms, this number is not disputed. (1) U.S. population 328 million as of January 2018. (2) Do the math: 0.00915% of the population dies from gun related actions each year. Statistically speaking, this is insignificant. It’s not even a rounding error. What is not insignificant, however, is a breakdown of those 30,000 deaths:

Life Update

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 13:53:06 -0500

So amidst all the craziness of 2020, I finally got in to get braces installed yesterday. If all goes well, I’ll have to wear them for 28 months. I get two upper teeth extracted on the 7th, followed by another visit to the orthodontist to finish up on the 14th.

As of two weeks ago I started learning Latin, with the goal of eventually being able to read The Aeneid by Virgil in its original language. I started now because I realized Duolingo offered it as a course. I’m doing a combination of Duolingo and Memrise to help me learn faster, with the idea that these two apps are fairly complementary.

A Thought on Lord of the Rings

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 07:46:53 -0600

A very interesting observation regarding the end of the Lord of the Rings from reddit. I wish I could find the original author or thread, alas.

“While Tolkien has been accused of basing the Lord of the Rings on the Second World War, the First World War was a much, much greater influence. You can see something of the Somme in the Dead Marshes and No Man’s Land in Mordor. But for me, the most important mirroring is in the soldiers returning home and the Hobbits returning home. In a very real sense, I feel like the point of the Lord of the Rings wasn’t the destruction of the Ring and the defeat of Sauron, but the return of soldiers to their homes. I feel like Tolkien wrote everything before the destruction of the Ring so he could write about what happened afterwards.

Willful Ignorance

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 07:29:50 -0600

I will never understand the willful and loud ignorance of athletic sports, usually by people immersed in ‘modern geek culture’. If sports aren’t your thing, that’s ok. But to revel in and be proud of it by telling anyone who will listen (especially on Social Media) is straight up stupid, you look like an idiot, and most importantly: nobody cares.

Notes from the Chiefs vs Texans Game

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 08:41:21 -0600

Both teams set a NFL Playoff record with 52 points in the 1st half.
The Chiefs scored 41 unanswered points, first team to do so in the playoffs since the 2002 Jets, and outscored the Texans 28-3 in the second quarter.
Travis Kelce become the first player in NFL history with 3 receiving TDs in a quarter. Damien Williams also ended the game with 3 TDs.
Pat Mahomes threw 4 touchdown passes in a span of 9 minutes. He ended the game with 5 TD passes, 300+ pass yards and 50+ rushing yards (a NFL first).
The Chiefs first 10 offensive possessions went PUNT-PUNT-PUNT-TD-TD-TD-TD-TD-TD-TD.
The Chiefs are the first team to tie or lead at half-time after trailing by 24+ points.
The Chiefs are the first team since the 2010 Packers to score TDs in 6 consecutive drives. They set a new record with 7.
The Chiefs set a franchise record for most points scored in a playoff game. They also scored the most points in a playoff game since the 2009 Cardinals.
The Texans allowed 51 points today, the most ever in franchise history. That was after scoring the most points in the first quarter in team history.
Both teams had 20+ points leads during this game.
Andy Reid is now the only coach in NFL history to be on both sides of a 20+ point playoff comeback.
Arrowhead stadium ran out of fireworks due to the Chiefs offense scoring so much.
With this win, The Chiefs will host the Tennessee Titans next week in the AFC championship game. They are currently on a 4 game losing streak against the Titans.

credit to /u/Palifaith on reddit for compiling the list.

Monster Energy Drinks are Evil?

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 08:58:48 -0600

I pulled this from a post I made on Facebook a year or so ago because I think I’m going to pull all my noteworthy posts from there as part of my efforts to eventually drop the site entirely.

I’ve been around ultra conservative Christians all my life and this is a new one. Apparently Monster Energy’s logo is the Mark of the Beast. Someone, somewhere made the claim that the scratch marks are actually the Hebrew Vav (the number 6). Which, if you squint a little bit, yeah maybe?

Christopher Columbus and Presentism

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 16:53:45 -0600

Presentism: uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.

Probably something people should remember when looking back at past historical figures. Certainly when viewed from our current moral system Christopher Columbus was a pretty damn terrible person. But could he have really been anything else in order to begin the European settlement of the new world? The answer is really, no he couldn’t have been. Islam was at its peak and culturally had no issue with slavery, piracy, and looting and the Christian Mediterranean nations responded in kind. The galleys the Ottomans used to control the Med for centuries were powered by slave oars. At the battle of Lepanto in 1571, 12,000 Christian Galley slaves were freed from the Ottoman Turks for example. France and Spain used galley slaves up into the early 1720s. The Reconquista of Spain had been underway for a long time. 1492 was notable because that’s when the Moors were driven from Grenada. The Spanish Inquisition was started in 1481. Prior to his voyage Columbus spent his time between the Portuguese exploited Africas and Inquisition/Reconquista Era Spain. Spain was his fourth choice, Portugal was his first when looking for backers, and if you think what he did in the New World was terrible, check out what happened to West Africa.

Some Clocks Were Cleaned NFL Week 1

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 11:00:01 -0600

Here are my thoughts as of the end of Sunday, September 9, in regards to the NFL.

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens put on an absolute beat down of the Miami Dolphins, to the point some Dolphins players reportedly contacting their agents and asking to get them out of there. Final score: 59-10.

Patrick Mahomes had an injury scare as he limped around a bit with a potentially sprained ankle, Tyreek Hill got injured, and Sammy Watkins had the game of his career as the KC Chiefs looked really good form against the Jaguars. Who lost Nick Foles to injury, and was replaced by the surprisingly solid rookie Gardner Minshew. Final Score: 40-26

A Rant. Mostly About Game of Thrones

Sun, 19 May 2019 09:44:11 -0600

Having now caught up on Game of Thrones in preparation for it ending tonight, let me just state that if I were in charge of the forces at Winterfell fighting off the undead hordes, I could have done so for as long as the food held out. No cavalry, no siege weapons required. With those + dragons I could probably outright win, given the rules of the world.

A Religion of Science

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:15:50 -0600

From an old facebook post I figured that it would be good to preserve here.

Science tells us what the world is doing and why (to the best of our knowledge, and it may be proven totally wrong later). It does not tell us how to fix a problem, or even that there is a problem – just that a doing thing A leads to B by current understanding.

Pawns and Pints

Sun, 22 Apr 2018 22:04:51 -0600

We went down to Pawns and Pints today to see what it was all about, and to try to hop into an Adventurer’s League D&D game. Unfortunately all the seats for the D&D game were full. However, my wife and I had some great drinks, and cracked open few random board games. Like Star Wars Stratego and the old classic Battleship. We decided we really need to make this a regular thing, because it was a ton of fun all around. Maybe we’ll actually even schedule ourselves into one of the D&D days.

Philosophical Approach to Gun Control

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 20:06:41 -0600

This post on reddit is one of the better and definitely unique reasons to be against gun control in the United States. Not written by me, but merely reposted here for posterity:

“I won’t give the expected answers of self defense or resisting tyranny, those are too trite and overblown. No, I answer with something far more basic yet fundamentally bigger.

Vikings vs Saints

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 01:22:03 +0000

This game may have just been one of the greatest games of football I’ve ever seen. I seriously thought the Saints would pull through in the end, but Minnesota managed to pull of a literal last minute miracle. The entire second half was just incredible. Kudos to both teams for showing off just how insanely good they were.

Destiny vs Warframe

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 22:29:58 +0000

So, having completed Destiny 2’s story campaign and started on the post-story/max level stuff I feel good enough to state that the only real similarity between Destiny and Warframe is that they’re both Sci-Fi games based around a loot grind. But even how they go about doing the loot grind is different. The best analogy I found is Destiny 2 is a Movie and Warframe is a TV show. Destiny is gorgeous, it oozes AAA quality in every aspect from art, to music to VAs (Nathon Fillion as Cayde-6 is absolutely amazing), and you know it had the budget to match when making the game. This is your big budget blockbuster superhero movie. Warframe on the other hand is the TV Show that started out kinda rough (ok really rough) with next to no budget and through sheer charm managed to not only hit syndication, but continually grow their following every season. Due to its long history and low budget past, it has had its share of highs and lows, and it definitely has its share of odd quirks and unresolved loose ends, but where it’s at now is not only good, it’s being compared very favorably against these big budget blockbuster cinematic experiences.

Sensible Ideas Involving Guns

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 22:00:28 +0000

I found this on reddit. Original thread here by /u/honeybunchesofpwn. This is something that I feel should be read.

“Well it depends on what it is you’re trying to solve. If you’re trying to solve highly unique events like what happened in Las Vegas, it’s gonna be difficult.

However, if you want to tackle the broader issue of gun violence, there are some substantial changes we can make that will have a positive impact.

Roll the Dice

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 02:45:10 +0000

I’m on a big D&D kick right now, having just finished The Adventure Zone, and now moving onto Acquisitions Incorporated. It inspired me to make a permanent page for my kobold campaign idea, just in case I wind up DMing at some point.

D&D Beyond is going to be the resource of the future. So much good stuff there, and the page is so beautifully mobile friendly. And speaking of tools, this one looks to be shaping up pretty well to make maps and such. I’ll probably pick it up here in the nearish future.

A Love Letter Really

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 21:36:29 +0000

This is probably the best cover to Toto’s Africa ever.

That’s A Top 10 Regret

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 01:42:26 +0000

I should have run some bitcoin mining while I was in college. We all knew about it, and talked about it, but never did it because we didn’t really think it would go anywhere. However, if we had put in even $10 when we heard about it (which if we’d been mining, we would have been way more than that), I’d be worth $4.8 Million today.

Monuments

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 03:07:50 +0000

I’m starting to see a very worrying trend emerging in the US Political landscape. The far left is, probably unintentionally, trying to whitewash US history. Things in our past are ‘problematic’ and anything reminding them of that ‘problematic’ issue must be removed and eliminated. Antifa and BLM vandalized a statue in Atlanta called Peace, it was an angel holding an olive branch over a confederate soldier putting down his rifle. At the outset of the war some of the Atlanta City Gate Guard, a local militia, were among the first to take up arms against the North. After the war, a group of survivors went to the North on a peace tour and would go meet Union troops to help reunification and promote unity. The statue was created to honor them.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Mon, 15 May 2017 03:07:42 +0000

Is probably the most Guy Ritchiest movie. I mean that in a “if you love his style, you’ll probably love this movie” kind of way. I did really enjoy it, but I’m fully aware that I’ll be in the minority here. The magic was siiiiick, and fantastic to look at. The dialogue was everything you’d expect from him. The action sequences were… interesting. I enjoyed them, but there were some parts that calling it ‘choppy and/or blurred’ is putting it nicely. This movie is definitely going on my guilty pleasures list.