Theo Verelst Diary Page

Mon may 21, 2001

I've decided after good example to write some diary pages with toughts and events.

Oh, in case anybody fails to understand, I'd like to remind them that these pages are copyrighted, and that everything found here may not be redistributed in any other way then over this direct link without my prior consent. That includes family, christianity, and other cheats. The simple reason is that it may well be that some people have been ill informed because they've spread illegal 'copies' of my materials even with modifications. Apart from my moral judgement, that is illegal, and will be treated as such by me. Make as many references to these pages as you like, make hardcopies, but only of the whole page, including the html-references, and without changing a iota or tittel...

And if not? I won't hesitate to use legal means to correct wrong that may be done otherwise. And I am serious. I usually am. I'm not sure I could get 'attempt to grave emotional assault' out of it, but infrigement on copyright rules is serious enough. And Jesus called upon us to respect the authorities of state, so christians would of course never do such a thing. Lying, imagine that.
 

Previous Diary Entries
 

Mon may 21, 2001, 10:11am

Progress is eminent in various areas, not yet the actual payd project area, unfortunately, but at least progress is made.

Visual tk, and my bwise lib on the latest version of tcl/tk

I've had the chance to very shortly try out the latest tcl/tk version, which seems to work fine straight away, and couldn't resist to also try the visual tk package, finding out it is completely written in tcl/tk, without even a single special library or program. It looks what the dutch could call 'strak', neat windows, almost like a standard application interface in profi sense. I didn't try much with it, but easily could load an example, and for instance move interface elements like buttons around in a window, and for instance with the mouse 'stretch' a set of buttons out over a larger area.

As is the case with all tcl/tk versions and scriptics provided tools, all this is for free, and not much of a drag to download (few megs) and install (easy, smooth and fast).

I just clicked on one of my latest libraries of tcl code, to see if the bwise stuff with menus and such would work and indeed, they did.. No problem, they start up they work fine (this time on an NT system), not a single porting or update activity needed, that is strong stuff, nothing I know of (and I do know quite something in the area) comes close. Yet: not a single tcl/tk course I can find in this country!

I've put on of the latest libraries here, it is a text file, change the extension to '.tcl', double click it, and use the console to type 'bwise' and the whole thing should run, see some pages back. Click on the second (middle) mouse button in an empty canvas area to put new blocks on it through the popup menu, and click on the yellow block areas to get a popup menu to activate blocks, or get a little window with all pins and variables.

The library isn't large, its quite under a 100 kB. Let me know if you tried it.

Addendum may 25 2001

These files should suffice to start the latest version of bwise Ive used on the 486 win 3.11 sys, and tested on a recent pentium NT sys with the latest tcl/tk version (8.3 or 4 or so, including visual tk):

procsa4.txt rename to procsa4.tcl, the main lib (about 70k)
start.tcl small overall startup file, not that needed, check it to understand my buildup
paper.gif little gif image needed with bwise in current directory
t.tcl update of a few routines of the bwise library, load after the main lib, I think it may not be very needed

Bible translation and its effect on history

I'll check the link later, and put it on: the new york times review of books has an article on bible translation based on the review of two books, where a very clear case is made on both the effect of translation on society and its politics (for instance during the formation of the US), and on language. Interesting enough, written with quite some information in it, I found it's on the web, too, maybe I'll quote some pieces.

I just looked up my notes: 


Date: April 8, 2001, Late Edition - Final 
          Byline: By Simon Winchester 
          Lead: 


          WIDE AS THE WATERS 
          The Story of the English Bible 
          and the Revolution It Inspired. 
          By Benson Bobrick. 
          Illustrated. 379 pp. New York: 
          Simon & Schuster. $26. 

          IN THE BEGINNING 
          The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language and a
          Culture. 
          By Alister McGrath.

the article should be here, but its a long cgi type of URL, I'm not sure it will work straight away from here. Otherwise just check the back issues on the server . Searching for bible translation gives the article in the first page of search results, I found.

Nanotubules

Wow, what a number of magazines about nano biology and related subjects in the medical library, and even about electronics in them and all the interesting citoplasm stuff I was interested in a number of years ago. I wasn't wrong about my leads, once again, realy I think easily 5 to 10 major mags in the medical library about these subjects. Maybe I'll start with a motor molecule description when I find a little time, just to give an idea of what there all is on top of boring neural nets, when take time to go there, I'll see if I can get some nice pictures or maybe article pieces from web magazines.

There are already a few articles about the function of networks of continuously operating analog networks, also in the membrane area, a few starting to get interesting on a simulation level a la electronics, where interest can begin at least for instance with membrane permeability control under influence of a potential difference (voltage), like the idea of transistor behaviour, but then for for instance 'fireing' a neuron. A few sets of graphs I looked at have oscillogram type of apearance and use enough to apply the vast area of electronics knowledge to these types of behaviour. Definately interesting.

Strangely enough some of the internet tranfered magazines (at least in the library I was some of the magazines were paper until last year or so, and now primarily internet, neat enough html and pdf's) have articles pre-published already for june and even august?! I'll put some of the links up, lets see if I have them.

For the moment I have an older link, about nanotubules .

Live !

I've been visiting the 'badkuip', a sort of grand cafe with (music) stage and a web site, too, it seems , where they have blues (/pop) and jazz (traditional and modern fusion) open podia. For the first time in years I think a decent performance with capable enough musicians in both areas (at least a few), satisfactory, quite rewarding, since I like to play. And good enough, they were, performance wise, which is not at all necessarily so with an open podium situation.

Not that I don't play regularly with varying (sometimes no) audience, I'm regularly at (after) the sunday evening services, and open days (tuesday 11:00-13:00) of the english church, I happened to visit years ago because I knew some people that went there, some of whom still are. I'm sure I disagree with certain people and doctrines, maybe even quite so for some, but not all, and they've been hospitable in various ways, and have an operating steinway upright, which helps, too.

They have some romantic brand of upright at the salvation army (I think it is Oudezijds Achterburgwal 45), where I regularly go to the thursday evening bible study, which is pretty much the only place where i've ever accompanied some of the old lets say christian songs I've played in other setting a decade ago. The steinway wins, I like it enough, but any serious acoustic piano in good enough (though hardly thrilling) acoustic setting is worth playing, after 20 years I'm still not wrong that I liked that more than many alternatives.

The Mr Bean christmas band idea applies in some ways, though rock guitar additions have also been heard in the past.

Who is Brown, Peter Brown?

As far as I knew already some years ago visiting a lecture at Leiden university, a famous enough historian, as I've mentioned some pages ago.

A started and continued plowing through 'The cult of the saints : its rise and function in Latin Christianity' and it luckily takes concentration, which is possible enough in the library I regularly read in.

In short the preoccupation with the dead and their place in rituals, worship shrines and relics, social and eccesiastical structure and the effect on both the roman power structures and lets say 'christianity' and the advent of the dark middle ages is the subject. Major interest factor, not in the least because of the lets say eloquence and relevance of the work, and of course the subject and its scope.