Geekery

Leonids

2009-11-17T20:37:56Z

Watched the Leonids last night. It was pretty cool; I saw a half dozen meteors or so, including one really big one that left an afterimage for a couple of seconds (possibly two in parallel; it was hard to tell). Too cold in Vermont at 2 AM in November to stay out for all that long (and I had work in the morning, so needed to get to bed eventually), but it's always awe inspiring to stare up at the heavens for a while and watch chunks of rock whiz by so fast they burn up.

How does this make sense?

2009-10-21T16:04:36Z

Telling Court He's Gay, Mob Informer Crosses Line — New York Times
“He didn’t want to make an announcement to the world,” said one person with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the dangers facing Mr. Mormando. “He wanted the judge to know what risks he took — why he wasn’t just your average cooperator, someone who had simply broken the code.”

Mr. Mormando’s hearing was, in fact, cloaked in secrecy, listed on the daily court calendar under the name “John Doe.” The documents in his case are under seal and even Pacer, the online federal court archive, has been scrubbed clean of anything related to the matter.

“He’s in an absolute state of fright,” said the person with knowledge of the case. “You have to understand that his partner is totally freaking out. His partner has no connection to any of this. You can just imagine how fraught the whole thing is.”

So, this guy is in fear for his life, and told a judge that he's gay in secret, under seal, with the court hearing listed under a pseudonym... and the New York Times thinks its a great idea to out him in print in one of the most prominent newspapers in the world? Including his name, a mention of his partner, his children, his neighborhood, and some of his associates that he's been close to (along with intimations that this is a stain on their honor)? Am I missing something here, or is this incredibly irresponsible?

Dreamwidth

2009-05-01T17:27:04Z

I'm trying out Dreamwidth, which is a new site based on a fork of the LJ codebase, and has a stronger commitment to diversity and being open and honest with its users about its policies than the current LiveJournal management. They are alos trying to do better about implementing user-requested features, rather than more features for advertisers, the most significant of which is that they separate your reading list from your access list (instead of having just one "friends list" that both subscribes you to read someone's journal and gives them access to your friends-only posts). Now, Dreamwidth is a new site, and will likely be going through some growing pains, so I'm not going to abandon LiveJournal any time soon, but I think Dreamwidth is worth checking out.

You currently need to either get an invite from an existing user, or buy a paid account, to get an account on Dreamwidth, and I do not currently have any invite codes, but once I do I'd be happy to provide them to any of my friends.

How not to apologize

2009-04-29T17:52:48Z

You know, I've seen a bunch of cases recently in which people have completely and totally failed to apologize, and in fact while in the process of failing to apologize, have managed to dig themselves in deeper. This seems to especially be a problem when someone is called out for making women or minorities feel uncomfortable.

So, just for future reference, some tips for apologizing, and also generally being sensitive to the way other people feel:

Don't blame the victim. "I'm sorry you're upset" or "I'm sorry you're offended" is not an apology. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to offend" may be an apology, but not if you weasel out of it afterwards by saying that what you did was perfectly fine.
Don't dig yourself in deeper. When you respond to someone saying that you're being a sleaze and making women feel uncomfortable, saying "but I love women, and just want to look at their beautiful bodies" does not help.
When being called out for making minorities feel uncomfortable, failing to apologize and then saying "but it's OK because I'm sensitive and like those minorities and want more of them in our community" does not help.
When people are feeling marginalized and speak up about it, it does not help for lots of other random people to pipe up and say "actually, the silent supermajority thinks what you did id A-OK".
Responding to someone who says they feel uncomfortable with whining about being a victim of political correctness does not help make your apology more sincere.
If someone says you made them feel uncomfortable, don't blow them off by saying they "chose to take offense".
People saying that they were offended by what you said or did does not make you a victim of persecution, or mean that anyone has abridged your right to free speech.
When someone is offended by something, it is not helpful to argue about whether they are right to be offended.
If you really, really think that what you said or did is OK, and people felt uncomfortable, hurt, or offended anyhow, then just ignore them or apologize and move on with your life. Learn to live with the fact that you can't please everyone and some people are not going to like you no matter what you say or do. But before doing this, ask yourself if what you did that caused offense is really something that you feel is right and is more important to you than the feelings of the people who are upset, or if you're just using this rule as an excuse for being a jerk.

This is not about just one incident, but a pattern I've seen in some of the flare-ups I've seen online recently. It just really gets me how many people think these non-apologies are a good idea.

Gay Marriage in Vermont!

2009-04-07T15:39:01Z

I am so proud of my state! First state in the nation to allow gay marriage by a legislative vote and not a court decision.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10143110
http://www.wptz.com/news/19100485/detail.html

In Boston

2009-03-14T00:43:57Z

trilobites and I are in the Boston area this weekend. Anyone want to hang out? We're thinking of checking out the Roadhouse BBQ in Brookline tomorrow night, the new place opened by the owners of the Publick House. Or anyone want to go out for coffee or the like Saturday or Sunday afternoon?

Happy Birthday

2009-02-26T16:54:32Z

Happy birthday to the love of my live, trilobites.

What do you do when...

2009-01-11T19:54:14Z

...you have sliced the bread and broken the eggs for French Toast, and then realize you have no milk?

Beer French Toast!

It actually works surprisingly well. Half a bottle of good beer (Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, in my case), two eggs, a splash of sweet cider, and a tablespoon of flour to thicken it (a little salt might have helped; I forgot about that). Soak some stale bread in that, fry it up in butter, and serve. I had pepper jelly on mine, while trilobites went with the traditional maple syrup. Not a bad brunch.

annodomini @ 2008-12-19T17:38:00

2008-12-19T22:40:32Z

About sums it up: http://snowpocalypse.com/

Mouse oil

2008-12-14T07:50:32Z

The other night, I was getting a bottle of vinegar out of the cupboard over the stove where we store our oils and vinegars. trilobites noticed that there were a few mouse turds up there. "Oh, great," we thought, "just what we need, mice getting into all of our food." After checking all of the other cabinets, including the ones with many bags of flour, dried fruits, and so on, we saw no sign of any mice in them, and we were busy, so we didn't do anything about it immediately but decided to clean it out and set a Havahart trap as soon as we got a chance. We also stopped at the general store to get some glass containers for storing our flours and sugars, in case mice did manage to find them.

Well, today we had a chance to clean out the cupboard, so I took each bottle out and gave to to trilobites to wash off, while I cleaned up the turds that were in the cupboard. There were quite a lot bottles; we like having a good selection of oils and vinegars on hand. As I was going through them, I noticed a stray cap lying there. "Huh, where'd that come from?" I worked my way further back, and then noticed that the cap was missing from the peanut oil. And the threading and plastic mouth had been chewed off. And in the bottom of the bottle, submerged in peanut oil, was a dead mouse. I guess that explains why I hadn't seen any evidence of him having gotten into the other food.

Anyhow, that's generally not something you expect to see every day. It's a good thing we noticed the turds and started cleaning up; I can only imagine what would have happened if I'd reached for the peanut oil without being prepared for what was inside...

Rickrolling is dead

2008-11-28T03:18:59Z

Long live Rickrolling.

Yeah, when Rick Astley officially rickrolls the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, you know that meme has reached the end of its life cycle.

Actually, I've been fairly glad for rickrolling; it means that random forum trolls have done a lot less linking to goatse, which is definitely appreciated. I hope that whatever replaces rickrolling is equally innocuous.

America

2008-11-05T04:45:23Z

Fuck yeah!

Barack Obama

2008-10-06T05:39:32Z

I don't like to bother my friends with political advocacy, but the more I follow the news, and think about this election, the more I realize that this is a critical turning point in the history of America, and that it will take everything we've got to make sure we don't go down the wrong path.

Barack Obama is the only chance we have to take this country in the right direction. He's not perfect (I'm as upset as anyone about his vote on FISA), but on the vast majority of issues and votes, he's done the right thing. He's smart, kind, hardworking, and inspirational. He will help mend America's tattered image in the rest of the world. He opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning, and continues to push for us to reduce our presence there and focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the actual threats to this country are. And what he doesn't know himself, he knows who to go to; he has a very tightly run team with a wide variety of very sharp advisors. This is only the smallest sampling of the reasons why I think it's essential that Obama be elected president; you can find plenty more written elsewhere that will go into much more detail.

In order to get Obama elected, though, everyone needs to do a little. Obama is the first candidate I have donated money to, and I encourage anyone who is able to do the same. Obama opted out of public financing to let millions of Americans donate a small amount at a time to show their support for him, while McCain is taking public money while also raising money for the Republican party who can then spend it on advertising for him and attacking Obama. Donating to Obama's campaign is very important, to make sure he can keep up the fight, so I've set up a personal fundraising page. Please donate what you can afford, be it $5, $10, or $100; every little bit helps, and you should consider it an investment in this country.

Besides donating, you should also make sure you're registered to vote, and make sure you get to the polls. Those of you who live in New Hampshire especially should look into making sure you're registered there; New Hampshire is a swing state, and leaning slightly towards McCain right now, so every vote will make a difference. For those of you who are Dartmouth students, you can register to vote there very easily; just get a note stating that you are living in New Hampshire from ORL, then go to the Hanover town clerk's office with that and a photo ID. You can find some more information here.

If you're not sure if you're registered to vote, the Obama campaign has set up a website that will allow you to check your registration status, register, and/or request an absentee ballot. It should also allow you to look up your polling location, at least in some states.

Oh, and to make this post a little more fun, and since I said I'd be trying to post the occasional juggling video here, here's a video about Barack Obama by Anthony Gatto, the world's top technical juggler and multiple world record holder.

Loaner garb

2008-09-27T04:15:05Z

Don't know how many people are going to check LJ before coronation, but Altani and I are bringing my brother to coronation, and forgot to grab loaner garb for him. Would anyone happen to be able to bring any loaner garb that might fit my brother (approximately my size) to coronation? Or know if there will there be any gold key available at the gate?

Topology & Modern Art

2008-07-23T05:26:46Z

I just spent the last few hours finishing sewing up the hood that I started before last Pennsic. I have some nice green wool, and a linen lining, and I got everything cut out, the wool and linen sewn into hood shapes, and then I put them together right side to right side, sewed the faces together, and sewed the bottoms together. I even thoughtfully left the liripipe off the lining, so I'd have a gap that I could pull it through to turn it right side out. I did not, however, think my cunning plan quite all the way through. Since, if I sew it all together right side to right side and evert it, the lining attaches at the face, and then comes around on the outside to attach around the bottom. Basically, it looks like two hoods, joined together at the face and at the bottom; it could almost be a piece of modern art, if you hung it up and wrote a bunch of meaningless stuff about how it represented the id and the superego devouring each other.

Anyhow, it's late, so it looks like I'll be spending some quality time tomorrow with the seam ripper, and actually thinking in a bit more depth about the topology and how to get those seams sewn so that it comes out right when I turn it the right way around.

Speaking of which, who all is going to Pennsic? Is there anyone I should be meeting up with while there? trilobites and I will be heading out this weekend, and staying through both peace week and war week, though we're not sure exactly if we'll be showing up on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

What I'm watching

2008-07-21T04:22:24Z

I'm thinking about starting a series of posts of links to the best juggling videos I come across. There's a lot of amazing juggling, and fascinating new ways of using juggling as an art form, that most people don't know about. I figure that if I post the best videos that I see, with some commentary, then maybe it can help people appreciate the art of juggling, and get a sense of the range and variety of juggling.

First up is Viktor Kee in Cirque du Soleil's "Dralion." This is a beautiful act, that I've watched over and over again for inspiration. Viktor Kee blends acrobatics, dance, and a bit of contortion with juggling, in one of the most graceful juggling acts I've even seen. I really enjoy the sheer playfulness of the routine, the flawless choreography, and the groundbreaking use of his body. Michael Moschen (who you may know as David Bowie's hands in Labyrinth) pioneered a style of juggling known as contact juggling based mostly on rolling balls around his hands and arms, while Viktor Kee uses his torso, legs, feet and head, while integrating dance and acrobatics at the same time. Many of the individual tricks he does are standard tricks performed by many jugglers, but choreographed and executed flawlessly with his wonderful sense of movement.

Quote of the day

2008-06-26T15:06:53Z

Noam Chomsky has already kicked your ass. Your ass has a kick from Noam Chomsky wired directly into its genetic code. Growing up is merely a process of discovering that kickness. Of your ass. By Noam Chomsky.

—Andrew Plotkin, rec.arts.int~~eractive~~-fiction

Party reminder

2008-06-21T14:46:18Z

Just a reminder that we're having our Solstice Party this afternoon, from 1-5, followed by the Revels North Solstice Festival. We may also decide to go to the Fairlee Drive-In afterwards (around 9, which is when dusk is), where they are showing a double feature of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Hope to see you in a few hours!

Solstice party

2008-06-19T06:40:53Z

trilobites and I will be hosting a Solstice party this Saturday, June 21st (yes, the solstice is the 20th this year, but Saturday is much more convenient for a party). The party will be in the afternoon, from 1-5 PM; after that, we're planning on heading over to Norwich for the Revels North Solstice Festival, and then going out somewhere for dinner, followed by some more low-key hanging out at our place if anyone's still up for it. We will have some basic snacks & drinks, and might bring out the grill, but we're not really planning on having any kind of full meal at the party; bring more food and drinks if you feel like!

There will be juggling, gaming, and possibly archery at the party (if our neighbors OK it). And whatever other entertainment you bring with you! For anyone interested in going to the Revels North Solstice Festival, we might also try to make some suns for the sun parade.

We will have a few beds/futons/couches available if anyone wants to stay over; they will be available first-come, first-serve, so let me know if you're interested. There will be French Toast with strawberries, whipped cream, and maple syrup on Sunday morning for anyone who crashes here.

My apologies for the late notice for anyone who would need to plan more in advance for coming; hopefully we can have another such party planned further in advance, perhaps toward the end of the summer. Anyhow, for those who are still free this weekend, we'd love to have you over!

The party will be at our house in Wilder, VT. If you need directions, let me know, and I'll provide them privately.

Participatory culture

2008-04-04T19:04:15Z

Great talk by Larry Lessig on the history of the interaction between technology, copyright, and creativity over the past century:

How creativity is being strangled by the law

It lives!

2008-03-14T01:38:42Z

When people ask me what I do for a living, it's usually quite a mouthful to try and give them an accurate picture of what I do. I usually start off with "I'm a computer programmer," and if they want to know more I say "I write interactive multimedia for continuing medical and counter-terrorism education." Of course, at that point, I usually have to go into more detail, explaining exactly what kind of multimedia it is, what kind of things we're teaching, and so on. And even then, I've only described what the Interactive Media Lab does, not what I actually spend my time doing. Because I don't spend all of my time developing the actual multimedia programs themselves, but instead spend much of my time working on the underlying multimedia engine and development environment that the programs are written in.

Well, I finally have an answer, at least of those technically savvy enough to get their toes dirty with some source code. We've finally released our engine, Halyard, publicly under the GPL. Now, this is a very preliminary release, as there are lots of bugs, there is almost no documentation, there are several major features that we haven't yet done, and it only runs on Windows. But we do have a Git mirror of our Subversion repository (the actual Subversion repository is private for various reasons), an IRC channel and a mailing list for questions and discussion, a Wiki with the barest beginnings of documentation, and an example program that you can play with.

So, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to check it out. And if you know anyone who's looking for a multimedia system that's scriptable in a version of Scheme that's been extended with a SmallTalk style object model, let them know. But don't post this to Reddit, Slashdot, or Digg yet; in its current form, it's really only for very early adopters.

I should have posted this earlier

2008-02-24T17:57:23Z

It probably would have been more useful for me to post this earlier, but hey, better late than never, right?

Anyhow, for those of you in the Upper Valley, MEaD (Medieval Enthusiasts at Dartmouth) is hosting its quarterly Inn at Knottyng Cross tonight. Our 13th century English inn will be bringing you a special treat tonight, an afternoon of camaraderie and revelry, and a feast of fine medieval French dining.

All afternoon, starting at about 2 PM, we will have amusements such as gaming, juggling, and archery, and an assortment of snacks to nibble on. By 6 PM, the feast should begin. All dishes in the first remove (course) will follow the traditional rules for Lent, so you can experience what people in the middle ages ate like for 40 days out of every year (no meat, dairy, or eggs, only fish and vegetarian dishes). The second remove will have all of the dishes that weren't allowed during Lent, including meat, eggs, and cheese.

So come one and all, and join us at the DOC house on this fine afternoon. The afternoon's activities are free, and the feast is $5 if you have not already registered. Bring period garb if you have it, or we can lend you some if you don't.

DETAILS at a glance:
Today, Sunday, February 24th

Games and amusements 2 PM - 6PM
Feast 6 PM, including vegetarian, fish, and meat dishes

$5 for the feast

At the DOC House, the building between the golf course and Occum pond

Arisia

2008-01-13T05:05:51Z

Arisia is ~~this~~ next weekend. I'm running demos of various Looney Labs games, and juggling at Arisia. Who else is going? I heard something about emergent thinking about it, and I know that liamstliam can't be there.

I do not have a hotel room at the con this year; with the extra day, it would just cost too much unless I managed to find a bunch of roommates, which is a hassle, and I can always stay with my parents. It does mean that I won't be able to stay quite as late at parties, but that's not really a big loss; most of the late night parties I've been to at the last few Arisias haven't been all that great anyhow. I'm wondering, though, if anyone will have a room that I can just drop my stuff off in during the days; I'll have lots of games and juggling stuff with me, and it would be nice if I could have a safe place to leave it all while I'm running around at the con. So, anyone have a room and willing to lend me a key during the days?

For the cooks out there

2007-12-14T05:34:19Z

Tonight I was feeling experimental, so I decided to make a red wine and butternut squash barley risotto (as in, pearl barley prepared like risotto, by frying it in some butter and oil, then adding red wine and vegetable broth a half cup at a time, then added some cooked butternut squash, a little balsamic vinegar, some grated cheese, and salt). It came out fairly tasty, but had two problems. One is that the barley never seemed to get quite cooked enough; it was still a little chewier than I would have preferred, even though I'm pretty sure I cooked it a lot longer than I ever cook real risotto. Do I need to do something different with pearl barley to get it to be more tender; soak it beforehand or anything? Or maybe should I just keep adding more water and cook it for a lot longer than I cook regular risotto?

Also, between the wine, the squash, and the balsamic vinegar, it came out a bit on the sweet side. I feel like I need to add something bitter or salty to balance that, but I'm not sure what. I had some Caerphilly cheese on the side to go with it, the sharpness and saltiness of which actually did complement the risotto nicely but it needs something that can be a more integral part of the meal, not just something you nibble on in between bites. I can't think of anything, so I'm wondering if any of you cooks can think of something that could balance the sweetness of such a risotto? I'd prefer to keep it vegetarian, since I'm trying to eat less meat, but if someone thinks of something meaty that would really go well I'm certainly willing to try it.

Dinner fought back

2007-11-18T08:44:48Z

I was in the middle of making dinner tonight; a tasty meal involving chicken rice (rice cooked in chicken broth instead of water), green beans with garlic and shiitakes, and pan roasted chicken with brandy dijon sauce. The rice was done, the green beans were simmering, and I had just pulled the skillet with the chicken out of the oven. I put the chicken on the plate, then turned around to grab the skillet so I could pour off the fat and deglaze it. Except I forgot the oven mitt.

So, I grabbed a 450° stainless steel handle with my bare hand. Ouch. I dropped the skillet quickly, and ran my hand under cold water for 5 minutes or so. It started blistering, though, so I turned off all the burners and the oven, and had trilobites drive me over to the emergency room at DHMC.

Well after about 2 hours of waiting rooms and waiting in the exam room, a doctor finally took a look at it, and told me it's just a partial thickness burn (the modern name for second degree), so I shouldn't worry too much, other than making sure it doesn't get infected. The funny thing was that she offered to prescribe me some painkillers, and before I could say much she rattled off a list I could choose from, which was Tylenol with codeine, vicodin, or percocet. I said "Um, I don't really need something that strong," and she said "Well, why don't we give you some vicodin." I wasn't aware that a schedule III controlled substance counted as "not that strong," but hey, why not?

The main problem is that in order to keep my hand from getting infected, she had a nurse put an ointment on and bandage my hand up, including all of my fingers (I have burns on my palm, the base of my thumb, index, and middle finger, and the tip of my ring finger and pinky). So now I get to type as if I have a mitten on. Right when we're in crunch time at work, too. And I have to change the dressing once a day for the next week or so.

After all of that, having been at the hospital for a couple hours, trilobites and I got to come home and finally have dinner, though it was all cold by then. After a bit of reheating, it was pretty tasty, although I didn't bother actually making the brandy dijon sauce; we just decided to have the chicken with salt and pepper.