“Picallily Mustard is one of The Empire’s most notable achievements.”

(A conversation with several people.)

So (ex-wife #1) is back at the TN place and is freaking out about the weather forecast. She also said Riley the dog is seeming concerned. Of course, he senses it from her, he did poorly in meteorology in school.

Yeah, that place is under a tornado watch along with a lot of the rest of the state. Been some bad weather going down lately.

It’s that time of year.

Tell her I said hello!

Will do.

---

(Continued from the end of the previous post.)

By systemic knowns, do you mean testing results, both yield and subcrit?

Each module has design limits based on known criteria that will work for that part of the model, which yes, is based on empirical data made-up of past results from testing and past workable models, this does involve both yield and subcritical tests.

An example would be you would end-up with excess energy at the end of a burn transition, and a false requirement for entry into the next. This would insure the transition would work. The difficulty here is when you run rotational matrices against each other, and to get good interpolation, you have to use something like spherical lerp functions. This gets complex very quick.

As time has passed, the inefficiencies in this have been addressed and these safety factors have been reduced. This mostly happened while testing was going on. It is much riskier now to do that kind of tweaking. Typically when a full computer run is taken some of the stuff is stripped out. All the stuff where you know what will happen, and all the sidecar calculations that support those areas. Like using a jpeg instead of a RAW file.

Right on.

Interesting that sidecar data came about back then, as far as I know to support really complex calculations, and now it is common in graphics programs that deal with RAW data. The graphics/games industry also uses rotational matrixes, well, probably more quaternions…

Interesting thing is models that rely heavily on 3D rotational matrixes degrade over time. The orientation goes awry, almost always the reference frame matrix. So, the models have to be reconfigured from time-to-time. So, models get old and break down…I know how they feel.

They can also suffer rounding errors, and a form of rotational confusion that uses a term borrowed from the aerospace industry… gimbal lock. So, before you use these things for anything important, you run a status check program on them to make sure they are working properly. A program was written specifically to do that.

It is basically a wash-out routine that pumps numbers in, and has a known output the model has to match. It also has to take into account during error checking that several nodes can be funky at the same time, so you get error stacking.

(I have no idea what these two guys were talking about.–K.M.)

---

Ian is off to get some Ukrainian potato and sausage casserole. He figures it will be close enough to bangers and mash to make him feel at home. First time I think a grown man has prayed for green peas.

I ordered fish and chips with fried brussel sprouts and Picallily Mustard. Picallily Mustard is one of The Empire’s most notable achievements. I need some Frito pie with ketchup and Saltine Crackers, made with Wolf Brand Chili, or course.

Ian did manage to find some PM in a small grocery between here and Kiev. He got the ladies to slice some potatos thin and fry them hard, then we took them in the field in baggies, with his mustard of course. I was going to wait until he went to sleep and swipe his bottle and pick all the cauliflower out, but I think he detected the larceny in my face and kept it close.

If this was a normal war I could get care packages from home. The girls could make some cookies and send them over for me to share with the guys. (Ex-wife #1) could make some and paint Riley the Dog’s face on them with that edible paint, and (Ex-wife #3) could make some with frosting mushroom clouds.

She would, wouldn’t she!

I like to think so.

(Ex-wife #3) texted me asking what kind of camera she should buy. I told her just to take one of mine. And…she took my prized Pentax K1 ll. Worse, she took the 15-30 2.8 lens, which is a masterpiece. I will never learn.

Ouch

I figured she would take a smaller mirrorless job, or at worst the D850…..

Well, she’s fond of Browning Hi-Powers. Perhaps your photographic kit preferences have rubbed off on her as well!

One of these days I am gonna go home to find the place empty, and with a postcard in the mailbox from the girls on the coast of Mexico…”Hi! from Tulum, hope you are well. Boy pawn shops don’t give you much these days, hum?”

LOL!

I may have to challenge her to an arm wrestling match to get it back.

---

We are all just irritated, I guess, with the war, and with each other. It happens. Not enough down time maybe, or maybe we are reaching the end of our rope. But, figure it will straighten itself out. Once Chris gets over his funk and gets back into the field he will be fine.

Sounds like his noggin is on the mend?

He has had a lot of head issues here. He knows that. I figure he is doing some deep thinking about his future, and that has him in a funk. But yeah, he seems to be on the mend. Long term? who the fuck knows.

I know and he knows he is never gonna settle down with a wife and a picket fence and an insurance job. I think he dreads the possibility of that. Or, the flip side, going bat shit and climbing up in a clock tower and shooting people at random.

That Hemingway quote about not caring for anything else comes to mind once again.

In some cases it is accurate.

When he gets out of here he will do what he usually does, set aside some amount of money, go to some expensive place and spend the hell out of it….Monaco, the Riviera, St. Barts. Then, find another war, if there is one. You could wash him in caustic soda, send him to Davies & Son on Saville Row, and he would still smell like gunsmoke.

In my mind I can see him pulling up to a table in Casino de Monte-Carlo, Saville Row suit and Oliver Brown bow tie, the waft of smoke crossing his face from a stout Balkan Sobranie, and all the men staring, the women ogling….

Then, with a stern look and a voice of deep timbre……”Chris.” (anticipation)…”well, just Chris, guys, that’s it. Now, lets play some cards.”

“International Man of Mayhem”

Yeah, think of Chris Pratt playing Austin Powers.

I can sort of see that in my mind’s eye.

I have trouble with it.

---

Despite being a born killer Carlos is actually a sweetie. Chris is moping around like a World War I vet, feeling sorry for himself, and Carlos had the idea we could take him out on a picnic. I was like, what we gonna eat?

“We have plenty of rations.”

“Uhhh.”

He figured we could try to find some French rations, drive SW to get out of earshot of artillery, and have a quiet time and try to cheer-up the boss. He is either half nuts from brain jangles, or has just finished an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.

Yep, I too have black brain bubbles.

---

The casserole was good. I am swearing off beer in the morning, even though we are certainly night people who hibernate during the day. I don’t want to get used to that.

I think I am down to around 200 Lbs now. I have not been this light since Vietnam. I have certainly shed some muscle, but didn’t really need that anyway. I wasted a lot of time bulking-up. Not sure why. I kind of like being skinny. Easier to move around.

I don’t check my weight all that often, but think I was between 235 and 240 when I came here.

That’s quite a drop in weight.

Yeah. I figure I can start advertising combat zone tours for folks to lose weight and get in cardio shape. Run the thing over Instagram. The lucky ones get a bad wound, which is a great way to shed some pounds.

Maybe a nice multi-drug resistant infection to go along with it. That will really strip the weight off a person!

Yeah, all kinds of options. Getting dead is the ultimate play. ladies: …no more worries about those lumpy thighs, that hail-damaged ass and that 4th pregnancy overhang and those purple stretch marks. Sign -up today!