Author: Warren Tang

I write about linguistics and philosophy. I also write poetry and take photographs.

The kidnapping of postmodernism

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People complain about postmodernism, saying it gave us all the troubles we have today. I don’t believe so. These terrible water with us from the beginning. Or, at least, from the start of modernism.

After the death of Derrida postmodernism lost its voice. It was open to criticism. It was bullied into trauma. The anxiety of postmodernism is what we have. Given that it allowed itself to be open to criticism, it was betrayed. Like a cheating modernist husband it hide the fact of its duplicity from its trusting postmodernist wife. She is in shock. She is trying to recover from it. She will expose them once again for what they are — deceivers.

She has escaped from her kidnappers. She will tell her story.

I was wrong about digital music

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Up to now I have complained about digital music. I complained that it didn’t sound as good as compact discs or records. But this is only true under certain conditions.

When I try to play digital music through an old school system (either through MDF speakers or wired headphones) the sound is average to say the least.

I bought a pair of apple 2nd Generation AirPods Pro recently and playing the same music through either the AirPods instead made the same piece of music sounds much better and natural. In fact it made music enjoyable again, reproducing the nuanced sounds more naturally.

In short, digital music from my phone is supposed to be played through something like AirPods which are designed for digital music. Old school speakers and systems are made for analog music. CDs are also designed to be played through such systems for which they were adapted.

Blogging after ChatGPT

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Since ChatGPT who needs to build content. Essentially you can ask it to write you a post. Asked what it can do for you this was its response:

ChatGPT can assist with a wide range of writing tasks, including but not limited to:

  1. Answering questions on various topics.
  2. Providing explanations on complex subjects.
  3. Creative writing, such as stories, poetry, or dialogue.
  4. Generating ideas or brainstorming.
  5. Giving summaries or overviews of topics.
  6. Assisting with homework or research.
  7. Drafting emails, letters, or other forms of communication.
  8. Offering programming help or code snippets.
  9. Translating languages (though dedicated translation tools might be more accurate).
  10. Offering recommendations, reviews, or opinions on certain topics.

It’s important to note that while ChatGPT is versatile, its responses are based on the information it has been trained on and it may not always be 100% accurate or up-to-date.

For facts, it knows most things up to January 2022. You can even ask it to give more detail.

So we may ask why write anymore of ChatGPT can look up the information for you. Why bother searching for the information online?

Seiko Prospex Alpinist (SBDC137/SPB21J1)

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This is a one week review of the Seiko Prospex “Baby” Alpinist. The brown dial paper dial on nylon NATO strap variant from the Seiko Core Shop is not usually seen in shops. But I found this at a discount in one of Seiko’s outlet stores.

Strap — the immediate thing I did was swap out the strap to a generic matte leather strap. This worked better and turned it into a work dress watch to suit a standard shirt with dress slacks and leather shoes.

Dial — the dial is an even dark brown almost black Japanese paper-like textured unlike the standard models which have rough fumé dial. This model is more in suited to work as the dial does not stand out as much. Unless you look closely it does not look like a printed dial. While it has a field watch feel to it, it is not casual in any sense. Hours are marked clearly by even numbers or indices for the odd numbers. There are minute but no sub-minute markers giving the dial a clean look.

Case — the case is in simple rounded stainless steel polished on the bezel and sides, and bushes on the top lugs. Similar in style to the iconic Rolex Explorer. It also sports a screw down crown so it is rated for 200 meter water resistance.

Crystal — the front has a single domed sapphire crystal so distortion is noticeable at an angle. Aesthetically, it is pleasing and because the dial is a three-hander it really does not matter. The back is mineral crystal glass with an annoying printed Prospex logo on it. Likely placed there to distract from the plain movement that is on display.

Movement — a 6R35 movement with a70 hour power reserve. This is great for those who want to wear another watch during the weekend and then come back to wear the watch. By Monday the watch is still running and ready to go. Not the most accurate at +25/-15 per day but that is what should expect for the price you pay. As I said also the displayed movement is not great looking with the bridges brushed and rotor engraved.

Price — I paid a low price (under USD300) since it was from an outlet. but that means it is great value. For this price I should not be expecting

  • sapphire crystal
  • 200 meters water resistant
  • 70 hour power reserve

But that is what one gets; a lot of watch for the price. The down sides were 1) average accuracy, 2) average display back, and 3) average strap that does not match the style. These are not deal breakers. The overall quality is excellent. And changing the strap made it look great. I am considering getting the black silicone Prospex strap for it since it is water resistant.

Seiko sometimes misses by not understanding that the 70 hour power reserve is a highly desired feature. I wish they would put it into their Presage line more since there are watches I would want to wear during the week and take off for the weekend.

Start with nothing

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It is sometimes useful to start with nothing than to continue with what there is.

To clear a room of things and then to reintroduce them may afford space to consider their removal.

Subtlety in analog music

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I am convinced that we have sacrificed convenience for quality when it comes to recorded music.

Listening to Bruce Springsteen’s The River album I cannot help but feel that each instrument comes out so much clearer on vinyl than on streaming even though the streaming is lossless.

So what is lossless but pumping up all values of the sounds until they get in the way of each other. I suspect it is the same with compact discs as well. The subtlety of loudness is lost in digital music, or rather the softness is lost because the values are increased to be as loud as the loudest parts of the music.

There is a lot more detail in the analog playback.

Poisonous snakes in Japan

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There are two snakes in Japan that are known to be poisonous. The mamushi (viper) and yamakagashi (tiger keelback).

Mamushi are light brown with a 5 yen coin-like pattern, and yamakagashi are predominantly black and orange.

Mamushi have long front fangs while yamakagashi gave short back fangs. Because of their shallow bites yamakagashi were, for a long time, thought to be non-poisonous.

the cicadas’ song

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soaking into rocks
after the rain —
the cicadas’ song

The KISS rule

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Keep it super simple.

The more you add to it the less useful it becomes. So, don’t add to it.

Yard of Blonde Girls

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“Through the yard, through the yard of blonde girls. Through the river and the sea, gold sharks glittering, a tree of white breaks the earth. The streets where Lola played. Very sexy. Very sexy.”

Jeff Buckley

The scary thing is I’ve met people, been to parties and places like these.