http://fnord.phfactor.net A very small weblog for friends and family. Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:56:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A great game, especially in SoCal were the weather suits it so well. It's also a good place to test sport and outdoor watches: [caption id="attachment_1292" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Casio PAG240"][/caption] http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/08/29/still-playing-ultimate/ This is a scan (remember those?) from a networking magazine, found while I was doing a brief industry stint as a network admin. Too good not to share. http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/08/16/ancient-geek-humor/ I have a friend in Illinois who likes Sun hardware, preferably running OpenBSD. We used to hack a lot together, but since I moved he's gone rather hog-wild on Sun gear. Thanks to Midwestern house sizes, he has a large-ish closet full of gear that I am very impressed to ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/07/19/sun-rise-or-sun-set/ I got a Cat Cam for Christmas, and recently tried it out on Rasputin. Here's the result (11MB, quicktime): Note that this is mostly blurred and often dark images - I had a few hundred images off of the camera, and just dropped them into iMovie HD to create this. Looks like ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/06/30/candid-cat-movie/ Not from Richardson this time: One does not simply walk into Mordor. It's a gradual slide. Life choices mount up and then one day you look around and realize, "Huh. Orcs." - Jason Sweeney (@sween) on Twitter This one resonated with me. Character is the accretion of decisions, after all. And who knows? Twitter ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/06/10/aphorism-for-the-day/ The problem: At work, I plug my laptop into a 30" display. So far, so good, so spoiled. However, sitting unused in the corner is a forlorn 24" display. This cannot stand! The solution is $43 from Amazon: Kensington display driver, with silicon by DisplayLink. Unlike the IOGear version, this one can drive ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/06/04/lots-and-lots-and-lots-of-pixels-on-a-macbook/ After reading about using an Arduino and a traffic light, I was inspired to do a smaller-and-cheaper version at work for our Buildbot setup. Lights: 10,000 mcd LEDs from Sparkfun in blue, green and red. $1.50 each, get two of each in case I toast a few. (I also bought a ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/06/03/more-arduino-really-bright-lights/ I'm always curious about how, why and wherefore when it comes to getting code written. We had a software engineering undergrad course, I've read some of the classic books (Brooks, DeMarco/Lister, etc) with various metrics, and I've always kept an eye out for ways to measure my own productivity. For ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/05/25/a-look-at-productivity-and-metrics/ JR once again: 482. Much of what you learn from a book or a job or a love you understand only when you have left it. http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/05/11/aphorism-for-today/ I've been meaning to post the Arduino and Python code for the weather station for some time now, so today when our group decided to migrate code hosting to github, I figured I'd use my project as a test case to explore github. Anyway, it was a total toddle. Github is ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/04/19/weather-station-code-posted-at-github/ If you travel or interact with people in other timezone, immediately check out and bookmark http://everytimezone.com/: Simple, visual and effective. Highly recommended. http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/04/15/best-timezone-site-ive-seen-yet/ For a while now, we've been using our iMac as a television, video chat box, movie screen and bittorrent server. (If you are hooked on a Canadian sitcom, bittorent is your best solution). Netflix streaming is especially good, and even the Vancouver Olympics worked reasonably well. (As an aside, I hope ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/04/07/welcome-to-the-future-sell-your-tv-now/ Way back at UNM, I worked on the problem of audio positioning via convolutions and HRTFs, using wavelets. The results weren't as hoped (details here, the filters didn't compress well at all), but I keep an eye out for the state of the art. I just found SweetSpotter, an unfortunately-Windows-only ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/29/real-time-audio-manipulation/ My trusty Linksys/Cisco RV042 has decided to crap out. Monit has been sending alerts for the past few days, but tracking it down was proving difficult since it mostly happened during the day. Yesterday I was home in the afternoon to sign for a package and managed to catch the ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/18/site-outages-routing-failing/ Via Lifehacker: That, my friends, is a 'QR code' generated by this site. All this one encodes is the URL 'fnord.phfactor.net'. You can also make one with text, phone number or SMS (text message.) On the iPhone, I'm using the QuickMark app to decode 'em, which seems to work pretty well and ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/12/fnord/ [caption id="attachment_1220" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="LED billboard, crashed and showing the Windows desktop. Lots of these kind of displays now."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1222" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Looking south to HK island proper"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1219" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Working on the designs over an extended breakfast, Bjorn doing the rockstar pose."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1221" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Old clocktower on ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/10/last-batch-of-hong-kong-pictures/ Some miscellaneous snaps and commentary as I regroup at home and work: [caption id="attachment_1215" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Nathan Road, Kowloon side, posing with a mug for a PB coffeehouse"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1212" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="A wedding party at the waterfront. Surreal."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1216" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Waterfront and ferry terminal."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1214" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Arts and culture ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/10/more-hong-kong-snaps/ One of our vendors there took us to a very good Korean BBQ dinner. The stack of raw beef they bring out is kind of daunting: and the array of tasty bits and sauces: I strongly suspect that I gained some weight this trip. Lots of great food every day! http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/05/korean-bbq-in-hong-kong/ I just got back from a week in Hong Kong and wanted to write a few notes before my memory fades. As previously noted, get a PCCW SIM card at the airport for use with phone and WiFi. I forgot my old one, didn't get one at the airport and never did ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/03/05/more-tips-for-visiting-hong-kong/ A lot of people criticize Apple for its prices, but I have to say in response that taking the time to polish all the edges and simplify really helps. Consider this: I have had a few Bluetooth mice over the years, from Microsoft, Logitech and Apple. The latest Apple mouse ... http://fnord.phfactor.net/2010/02/03/apple-and-attention-to-detail/