Chapter 7 - Miscellaneous Works In HTML
Grendel lecturing on the physics on digital cameras. (click for full size)
A programmer sans pareil, that was who I once was. A mind that could see the large and small at the same time. A mind that could see the clear path of logic right through to the end in one vision. A mind that could see the flow of data that was required and the pitfalls to be avoided. A mind that could churn out hundreds of lines of bug-free code in a day, day-in, day-out.
A programmer I was and programmer I remain, albeit out of practice and out of date. I took up the challenge to learn HTML and produced my own websites. Through bitter experience, my distrust of software vendors and 3rd party tools was strong. I eschewed all the bells and whistles in my search for reliability and permanence. Just a few pages of JavaScript in my entire edifice. My hope: That it will continue to stand like a beacon as long as browsers exist, sans maintenance. Surely HTML4 won't become obsolete...
I am that rarest of creatures: the true scientist and artist. Both sides of intelligence at once: The composer and mathematician, the poet and physicist, the artist and programmer, the warrior and law-maker. I bestride all aspects of human achievement. There is no field I will not enter. I bring that width of perception to all my work and it is THAT that stamps my work with the imprimatur of greatness!
With my website I publish my finished works to the world. I need no assistance, just a webhost. My work is out there in the cloud. Suspended inside the luminiferous internet, a radiant portal to the works of my mind. Available to all, free of charge. A boon to humanity. My gift to the world!
- Infinite Dimensions - A religion without God. Without heaven or hell. Where everyone is the master of their own destiny. Ironic, considering the interference from above that I have suffered all through my life. But not only the theology and morality of the religion itself but also:
Mr Mars' Objective Morality - The first truly mathematical expression of morality. Others may talk about it in the drivel of modern ethical theory but they are nowhere. Mine is already complete!
The Thellid Calendar. A new, culturally-unloaded positivist calendar with 13 months. Indispensable!
Hymns for Infinite Dimensions. 20 hymns without God for everyone to sing, around the whole gamut of human experience with the best tunes and arrangements from the traditional Christian canon. Excelsior!
- The Martian Colour Wheel - A simple idea but difficult to realise: Split the physicist's colour wheel into 24 segments with 5 lightness levels each. Name each one and fix it with two real world exemplars. Amazing that no one had done it before me! You'd think something so obvious would have been done long ago but no! People are dumb really...
My most successful thing, accounting for 90% of my website traffic. Ironic, considering that it has flaws, is not entirely finished and that I am colour-blind. Is God making fun of me? Of course he is! That petty, vindictive bastard! Personally I'm amazed that the moronic cunt even knows what irony is!
But if it's a success I'll take it. Ironic or not: It's a cool thing!
- My Soap Box - Every YouTube channel is a soapbox. Some more than others. Why should I be any different? But mine I write down. I code them up and place them on the world wide web, where everyone can READ them, or copy and paste the text into their own project... It's fine...
There it is! Where I fix the world's intractable problems with deft, incisive strokes of my brain. Slicing through the prejudice and myopia of pretenders and clearing a path to the core. Then, hauling out the recalcitrant solution, kicking and screaming, protesting its immunity, into the cold light of day and nailing it to the web for public inspection.
Many are the supposedly impossible problems that I have tackled and slain, including: depression, the legal system, capitalism, democracy, the battle of the sexes and various dysfunctional sports such as Soccer and AFL. They may lack charisma but ultimately it is these large-system frameworks that will reshape the world and be deemed the most important of all the children of my mind.
The current thinkers are fumbling in the dark, tripping over mole-hills and ignoring the elephants in the room. They either have no idea where to start or they insist that mud is a good foundation for a tower... It takes a monster to face the truth and find the path. Without my thought your world is doomed!
- My Poems - I am Grendel: Proud monster of the intellect, steeped in the literature of the ages. Of course I am a poet! "Wilt thou deny me in my own house? Is this page not proof enough?" Of course not. It is but one thread; one strand of a linguistic and thematic idea. And one idea does not a poet make! And so I work on all such ideas as they come to me. Converting particles of inspiration into finished works. Ninety original poems, in a range of styles, traversing a wide range of subjects and more to come. Surely a consummation devoutly to be wished.
I am born of the pen and by the pen shall I die!
- My Paintings - I don't claim to be a great artist yet my work is interesting and unlike the rest. I lack the fine perception of colour required to be a realist and the stupidity to be an abstractionist. And so I lurk in the space between reality and dreams And no! I don't paint enough to be of the first rank but still there is a place for my art... Where else can you see earwigs cavorting on the page? Who else paints deadly spiders in ballet costume?
- My Photography Pages - How can I detail the YEARS spent in digital photography? The art and craft in capturing an image. The understanding of aperture, sensor size, exposure time, subject shape and depth of field. The necessity of obtaining quality tools! How to sift out the gold from the dross when reading reviews. What to look for in sample shots. How to process an image...
And the labyrinth that is the physics of digital photography. I spent a YEAR on this subject alone!
I explain the hardware limitations in a depth you will not find anywhere else. Did I invent the concept of Poisson Aliasing? Research it for yourself. Surely there are other sites as good or better? Try and find them Grasshopper...
- The Martian Way - I uploaded two albums of rock music from my imaginary band "The Martian Way". One: A tragic love story. The other: A tale of the blessing and curse of a life on the dole. Both written from the heart and soul. From the often betrayed and often attacked heart and soul of Grendel. But a monster's heart and soul are robust! Though the pain is real and the wounds deep, I rebound from all such slights and power on. Always looking to the next goal and revelling in my strength. A monster is not so easily destroyed...
- A Scientist's Genesis - God: Paah! Genesis: Pffft! I'll show you how it really happened! From the beginning: Where a single system of logic led to a system of maths to a system of physics. A choice of constants and the Universe was born! God as the producer: laying the foundations, getting the funding, ensuring the system works but not appearing in the show himself. Well... mostly... every great director needs a cameo or two...
Physicists rejoice, for there is your god!
- Martian Runes - Every civilisation needs a script. Preferably more than one. The current Arabic-Indian-Roman system could be improved... I, L and 1 are too much the same, ditto for 9 & q; 0 & O and 6, G & b, and where are the symbols for zh and sh etc. Even worse when written by hand... To this end I invented 3 new scripts to cover all the bases and fix all the problems. To suit the human hand these are designed to be written with a knife on wood, a pen on paper and wool on felt.
I thought I'd start with a system of runes since I am a Nordic monster. Straight cuts from a sharp knife on a resistant surface. Curves are too difficult. Maximum efficiency! The minimum number of strokes for the greatest effect. It's not quite finished but you get the idea...
- The Sparkling 12 - Who are you really? How would you categorise your character? By wishy-washy subjective concepts from the folk tradition? or by some set of clinical questions placing you into one of "The Big Five" or "The 16PF"? It should be clear to all but the witless that 5 is not enough and 16 is too many.
And so I took a few days, did some reading and condensed the field of personality traits into 12 meaningful and largely orthogonal metrics. "The Sparkling 12!" Some would spend their entire careers working on this matter alone and never get it right. For me it was but a bagatelle: a stepping stone on the path to other things.
- The Thellid Horoscope - Only a fool would believe that a person's character is determined by the position of the sun, stars and planets in the sky when he is born. Humans!: Gullible, facile and ignorant in the main... How does such an absurd idea acquire currency? Ask of the wind! The wise comprehendeth not stupidity...
Yet the notion reeks of magic and charisma and stubbornly refuses to yield to rationality and so I conceived the idea of a horoscope in reverse: in which one's special day is determined by one's character, instead of the other way around.
I then built this horoscope on my "Sparkling 12" and subjected that 12 dimensional binary character space to an imaginative mathematical subdivision matched to my "Thellid Calendar", so that people can have one day every year that MOSTLY represents their individual character and one day every 8 years that FULLY represents their entire soul!
This horoscope is built on a secure foundation and with it you CAN predict behaviours, compatibilities and likely outcomes. And yes! It perpetuates the magic! With each person characterised by their own animal, recreation, investor type and management style.
- Mr Mars' Constellations - What can I say? They light up the night sky in the dark of the moon. An endless source of fascination! Once you have seen the Pterodactyl, the Spider and the Seadragon for yourself you will never return to the ham-fisted farce propounded by the ancient Greeks.
"Connect-The-Dots" it may be but it took the mind of Grendel to fix the mess of 5,000 years! New constellations for a new millennium! Ones that are based on everyday animals and objects that actually resemble the thing they are named for.
Simple? Bah!
Pathetic humans!
All this and more I uploaded. A suite of solutions to the problems of the world and more to come. A boon for mankind. A wonder for anyone with a decent brain... Largely ignored.
The constant in my career...
Perhaps it is the algorithm. Perhaps it is contemporary culture. Perhaps it is the pitch of my language. Perhaps it is a conspiracy. Perhaps it is that vindictive turd above us...
Ungrateful wretches!
HTML: the habitation of language henceforth and humanity's hope,
Displayed on the screen de rigueur, daring in content and neat in design.
Links within links, ideas within ideas, leading us forward at our leisure,
Wherever goeth the wandering mind. Workhorse of enquiry: the Web.
Marvel at the mighty achievements, measured out by the mind of the master:
Science and art, poetry and the sky, sheet music and "The Sparkling Twelve".
Parading in plain sight, each phrase considered, each placement perfect.
Laid out simply, its text: legible, its language: elite.
Behoven are we to bring that stuff, bare and bright, to the forefront of our brains.
There to taste and take on, the theories and techniques,
Revealed with reverence in these records of repute, to
Enrich our existence and eliminate our enemies.
