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The Universal Dilettante

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Help Hydrox! [Jul. 8th, 2009|04:41 pm]
From [info]stronae

From [info]geodyne's journal:

"The first person to step up when someone has a rough time is [info]bronxelf_ag001. She's an incredibly generous person, and will give endlessly of her time and skills to help out someone in need. This time she's the one in need. [info]bronxelf_ag001's cat, Hydrox, became ill a week or so ago, and after a series of tests, is on medication for a blood-borne parasite. She seems to be responding to the medication, but they don't yet know whether that's the problem. There may be more tests. [info]bronxelf_ag001 has been unemployed for some time and is currently in debt for hundreds of dollars for Hydrox's treatment."

I concur with [info]geodyne: [info]bronxelf_ag001 has been a friend to cats (and their owners) for as long as I've known her. Full details of her scarf auction to help Hydrox are here. Even if you don't have much cash to spare, feel free to check out the auction and/or help boost the signal. :)
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11 disappointments in a row [Jul. 5th, 2009|11:32 am]
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Well, shit. I'm still here. Goddamnit, "Bob," when are you going to come through for us?

Oh, well. I guess I can put up with the Planet of the Clocks for another year.
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Goodbye, Pink World (for the 11th time) [Jul. 4th, 2009|11:22 am]
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Just a reminder...don't go looking for me after tomorrow morning. As of 7:00 Sunday morning, my lily white ass will be sitting comfortably in my new Slack Boy Recliner Captain's Chair/Toilet/Masturbatorium as I casually leaf through the latest issue of Frop Aficionado and brush up on my prarie squid tantra in preparation for the weird, multi-sexed multi-gendered interspecies mating rites of the Sex Goddesses.

Your asses (of various lily and non-lily colors) will, however, be discovering what happens when the Xists finally do wrap up their land development plan for Earth, and I can assure you, it's going to make "sub prime" take on an entirely new meaning.

Enjoy your planet, losers. You had your chance, and it came cheap.

Incidentally, it's not too late to repent, quit your job, and slack off, but you're going to need to send your $30 by FedEx to upstate NY if you want to have any hopes of getting a flying saucer reserved.

My phone number, and business cards, will remain the same.

Toodles!
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Random "gifts" [Jun. 30th, 2009|03:36 pm]
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In better-but-confusing news, I seem to have become the recipient of some random items. When I checked the mail the other day, there was a copy of Bicycling waiting for me, and a mysterious package arrived containing a Maker's Notebook. [info]nancyblue swears she had nothing to do with it and it's a touch early for them to be birthday gifts.

So, I wonder where they're coming from.
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Bike Stolen [Jun. 30th, 2009|11:45 am]
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Last night, someone swiped my bike. In all honesty, I really didn't do enough to protect it, so I'm not surprised. Because the bike rack is crowded, I hitch up to a fence near the parking garage's entrance/exit. I also had taken to using a cable lock instead of a u-bolt lock because I was often having a hard time finding a place to lock my bike that the u-bolt could handle. So, I was pretty susceptible to a snip-n-rip, and I'd lulled myself into a false sense of security that the garage was protected enough.

The good news is that I have renter's insurance, so I just need to process the claim and they should cover a lot of the replacement cost. The bad news is that these things take time and that bike was my car surrogate. The silver lining is that [info]nancyblue's bike is still here, so I guess I'll have to start commuting on it.

I generally think of all the blessings I have. In a shit economy, I was given the opportunity to move to a place I always wanted to be and to do work that is materially and personally rewarding. Yet, at the same time, I must confess that I have really gotten weary of all the bad rolls of the dice we've had in short succession. In the last year, we have lost a cat to an expensive battle with cancer, I have had to switch degree programs and graduate with an MS, I've resigned my doctoral program, [info]nancyblue has had shingles, I got laid off, we moved to California, we moved across town once in California, and just when it starts to seem things are stabilizing at home, my primary means of transportation is stolen.

Please, for fucksake, could we get a little respite from the everything-happening-to-us deal?
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Subgenius, stand up and be counted. [Jun. 29th, 2009|10:43 am]
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If there's anyone on my friends list who is a dues-paid member of the Church of the Subgenius other than [info]rmmcgrath, [info]mysterg, or [info]shepjoe, please speak up.
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15 First Lines, Special Themed Edition, Answers [Jun. 26th, 2009|05:38 pm]
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I'm headed home, and it's time to announce the winners and the answers to the remaining songs.

Honors go to today's winner, [info]theoofthewired, who earned eleventy billion and one points, for answering one song and correctly answering the theme: "Michael Jackson"

(Again, the first relevant letter from each of the bands spells MICHAELJJACKSON)

Our runners up:

[info]the_xtina, with a commanding 6 points
[info]dixiemouse, with 3 points
[info]jane_etrix, with 2 points
[info]bishop6042, with 1 point

The two songs that slipped under the radar were...

8) "I see people, and they're craving blood. I'm so rarely understood."
10) "She was an ordinary girl. Her family moved to Liverpool."

First line (8) comes from "Black Capricorn Day" by Jamiroquai. First line (10) comes from "Miss World" by All About Eve. Those are some fairly obscure ones, but I wanted to put a couple of challenges in there.

Thanks to everyone for playing today, and again, huge kudos to [info]theoofthewired for spotting the riddle buried in the game.
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15 First Lines, Special Themed Edition [Jun. 26th, 2009|10:33 am]
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We haven't played a game of 15 First Lines in a while, so I'm opening one up. These songs were chosen around a special theme. Eleventy billion points to the first person to figure out what that theme is.

[ETA] Maybe "theme" is a misnomer. There is a common thread connecting the songs, but it isn't a "theme" in the sense that they all deal with a common topic or concept. It's more like there's a funny riddle lying in wait for the observant and clever.

As usual, these are the first lines from songs. Name the song and artist and you get a point. Of course, you can name all the songs and someone can still win by scoring eleventy billion for correctly spotting the theme.

[ETA] The theme was correctly discovered by [info]theoofthewired and the eleventy billion points have been awarded. The theme was Michael Jackson. If you look at the first letter of each band in the list (ignoring "the", of course), you'll find they spell out... MICHAELJJACKSON. And yes, "J." was his middle initial.

1) "Well I live with snakes and lizards and other things that go bump in the night" "Every Day is Halloween" by Ministry, scored by [info]bishop6042
2) "Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear" "Drive" by Incubus, scored by [info]the_xtina
3) "You're so gorgeous! I'll do anything! Kiss you from your feet to where your hair begins!" "Why Can't I Be You?" by The Cure, scored by [info]dixiemouse
4) "Bus stop, wet day, she's there I say please share my umbrella" "Bus Stop" by The Hollies, scored by [info]dixiemouse
5) "Bury me softly in this world. I give this part of me for you." "Down in a Hole" by Alice in Chains, scored by [info]the_xtina
6) "I like the way your sparkling earrings lay against your skin, it's so brown" "Peaceful, Easy Feeling" by The Eagles, scored by [info]the_xtina
7) "Lightning crashes, a new mother cries." "Lightning Crashes" by Live, scored by [info]the_xtina
8) "I see people, and they're craving blood. I'm so rarely understood."
9) "Tell me one more time, as I hold your hand, that you don't love me." "One More Time" by Joe Jackson, scored by [info]jane_etrix
10) "She was an ordinary girl. Her family moved to Liverpool."
11) "London calling to the faraway towns now that war is declared-and battle come down" "London Calling" by The Clash, scored by [info]dixiemouse
12) "Shockwave! Massive Attack! Atomic Blast! The Son of a Gun is back!" "Son of a Gon" by KMFDM, scored by [info]theoofthewired
13) "Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know it's serious" "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths, scored by [info]jane_etrix
14) "Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you" "Wonderwall" by Oasis, scored by [info]the_xtina
15) "Polly wants a cracker. I think I should get off of her first." "Polly" by Nirvana, scored by [info]the_xtina
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Megatokyo: down to its last shred [Jun. 23rd, 2009|01:21 pm]
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I've mentioned this before, but here we go again.

Megatokyo, that grandpappy of indie web comics that broke the mold and showed how commercially successful an indie web comic could become, keeps falling off at an increasing pace. This really makes me sad to say, but it's finally reaching the point where I guess I am going to have to stop reading it.

I remember starting to read it in early 2002. Back then, it was a quick, light 4-panel affair. There was a plot of sorts: a pretentious and awkward otaku (Piro) and a pseudo-macho gamer with a drinking problem (Largo) end up on a sudden flight to Japan after too much booze creates a mysterious and embarrassing incident at E3. The Japan they arrive in is a satire of gamer and otaku culture...a place that expresses and gently mocks the immature ideas you hear so many gamers and anime fans express about Japan. l33t is an international auxiliary language for the technologically obsessed. The world started to take on a sort of absurd magical realism that picked on just about anything about anime, manga, gaming, tech, and web comics imaginable, and in doing so, it developed a little language all its own. That's what a good comic does.

I still remember the strips when Piro and Largo first encountered their consciences. Piro's was a little angel who sat on his shoulder. Largo...well, he didn't have one, and the "conscience agency" couldn't afford to hire one, so they found a temp worker. Largo's conscience was, and remains, a small hamster with a pair of wings strapped to its back. Hilarious.

But, when the strip's co-creator left, the sense of humor slowly deflated from the strip. It always had a plot, but the plot got heavier and started to take the stupid tropes of manga seriously. But, there was still humor at least once a week...or they'd have a week of being whiny and awkward followed by a week of comic relief. It was enough. At least, it was enough for a while. Then Largo started losing his edge. He sobered up somewhat and started hallucinating less. He stopped burning things as frequently. He stopped being the Dr. Gonzo of the story, which meant he no longer motivated activity by being a complete lunatic at all times. In short, he became Piro's second fiddle. This was a horrible thing to do, since it means that he's playing second fiddle to an whiny emotional cripple who believes the solutions to life's problems are in manga books marketed to Japanese schoolgirls. Piro is the most archetypal wet noodle I can imagine. He never motivates the plot; he just responds to it as awkwardly and ineffectually as possible.

Even that wouldn't be such a problem, though, if Megatokyo creator Fred Gallagher would just fucking figure out what the fucking story is. At first, it seemed like he was going to play the "too many girls" card, and started introducing the stereotypical female love interests at a fairly steady clip. There was the actress...the cynical game store worker...the goth...the robot...the schoolgirl. It's frequently impossible to remember which of them is which. Two of the women in the story differ only in hairstyle, and many people have admitted to never remembering which is which. Gallagher decided the well-worn path of the "too many girls" manga was a little too well-worn, though, so now each one of these introduced characters seems to, at times, get their own complete story arc. Yes...I would prefer the women in a story get proper first-class treatment; my complaint here is instead that a roster of characters that's already quite large keeps on getting bigger and bigger. The core characters I know and love keep getting less and less time in the strip. Largo, especially. It takes time and more characters to support more stories.

What used to be a "buddy flick" romp through a satirical Japan then set itself up to be a stereotypical comedic manga, then took a left-turn and Albuquerque and wandered off into a land where it tried to become some sort of more legitimate story, creating some weird, jangling automaton that lumbers along, making a terrible mess and racket, confusing all it passes as to how it remains upright. And, much like one would gaze upon the Iron Giant and wonder for what purpose it was made, one can now gaze upon Megatokyo and wonder what the story is. And like one could never gaze upon the Iron Giant and know its origin, Megatokyo is so far off its original plot that I have no idea where in the story I am any more.

Megatokyo has lost its McGuffin. I might have some old-fashioned ideas about writing, but I think McGuffins are important. For the uninitiated, these are the devices, introduced early in the plot, that motivate the characters along the story. For example, the McGuffin of Star Wars Episode IV is the secret plans for the Death Star. For Megatokyo, the McGuffin was a simple one-- Piro and Largo wind up in Japan and have no money to get back home, so they find work at a gamer store. Fairly simple premise (and simple premises work well for comic strips), and it gives the story a beginning, a middle, and an end. Piro and Largo will have to survive in this strange world, get enough money to go home, and then say goodbye to the friends they made along the way.

The thing is...that was the plot device they set up in 2002. It's now 2009, and according to the Megatokyo site, 2 months of in-world time have passed. So, what in the hell? Piro has a job at a store and Largo is teaching. When do they get paid? Don't they want to go home? If they don't, why not write it into the story? I have been reading the story for 7 years now, and I don't believe the plot has moved an inch. Nothing gets resolved, and every dangling matter seems subject to the creation of another extraneous plot arc that brings in more characters that take more time away from the core starting point. No shock...my official reason for continuing to read Megatokyo is because I've done so for years and want to see how Piro and Largo get home (or go native). I want to see an ending because I've been waiting for one.

Years go by, and I still see no sign that it's moving for the exits. In fact, it just keeps on lumbering along, becoming increasingly ponderous. To make it worse, Gallagher's rate of production seems to be slowing significantly. It seems like he's spent the last couple months on nothing but Piro describing how he used to play an online game with Miho (the goth). It's so far out in the weeds that I'm not even sure what the relevance is to the immediate storyline, let alone the overarching plot.

It's basically down to the last shred now. I loved Megatokyo, but it's being run into the ground so far that, despite my being an attentive and regular reader, I don't even know what's going on anymore. I really want to see the story tied up into a neat end, but how many more years am I going to keep reading, each time a little more lost than the one before, before I give up?

It's sad to say, but it's basically over already.
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Fucking bike tires [Jun. 23rd, 2009|10:38 am]
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A few weeks back, a jagged bit of shrapnel made mincemeat of one of my bike's inner tubes, and this inspired me to go to my local bike shop and discuss puncture-proof tires. Something I've really grown to understand as my commute gets longer is just how much commuting is different from other forms of cycling. I am essentially required to ride where the cars are, and that means, among other things, traipsing through the shrapnel of wrecks and the shards of discarded beer bottles.

The helpful lads at the bike shop near work informed me that, indeed, they could order and install a pair of kevlar-lined tires for me, which would seriously curtail my issues with punctures. I placed that order posthaste, as upon further inspection, that jagged piece of shrapnel had left serious scars in the tire, too.

Yeah, well, that was before I left for Jamaica, and I still haven't heard back. As a temporary measure, I went and got a super-cheap tire to just get me through what I thought would be a week, tops, worth of riding. Why bike shops have to be staffed by smug jackasses with no sense of follow through is beyond me.

Fast forward to today. I'm guessing I hit a nail, and that cheap back tire let it right through. Puncture. This time, though, I thought ahead and had a spare tube with me. So, rather than fix the puncture, I replace the tube. One 160-gram CO2 charge, and that tire was ready to go. In fact, it was too ready. It felt way too inflated for the rating on the tire. I let some of the air back out and got on to ride, and I made it to work.

Within 200 yards of work, that rear tire started feeling mighty soft again. Sure enough...by the time I got to my desk, my rear tire was flat again.

I checked the tire for anything stuck inside when I changed tubes, so I'm fairly sure that's not the problem. I don't know if over-inflation blew a hole in the tube or what. That was, however, my last spare, and I have only one charge left. So, now I have no idea what to do. I guess I need to go hunting for the new puncture and hopefully also find what's causing it, but if it's a puncture, I now have to patch one of the tubes, and then, if I over-inflate again, I might blow the patch and be left with a flat again.

I don't generally rail against "car-centric culture," but this is one of the things that does drive me nuts. Because bikes are not seen as serious modes of transport, most of their parts are not designed with safety, longevity, durability, or utility in mind. Because bikes are treated as toys, bike shops are invariably sluggish and ineffectual in providing proper aid. Compare this to a comparable situation in a car, where my tires are built to withstand the rigors of the road and to avoid total failure, where I can patch a tire with a couple of bucks at any gas station, and where any tire mechanic will be happy to replace a ruined tire within hours, generally with just about any kind of tire I want.

I guess most cyclists revel in taking care of everything themselves. Sometimes, I do. Often, though, I just want to travel safely and quickly from work to home so I can make it over to a video shoot by 6:00.
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At last, my things have returned [Jun. 22nd, 2009|11:44 am]
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Saturday, the people from PODS delivered the storage unit, and with it, all our belongings.

For those who haven't followed the story very closely, I'll recap. When [info]nancyblue and I moved to California, we had no idea when I'd get a decent job. With a recession on and my only job offer being insultingly low, we agreed that the best course of action was to start digging trenches -- find living quarters quick and keep the household budget under a tight enough control that we'd be able to live on severance and unemployment if necessary.

So, from February until the start of this month, we've been living in a single room...a sort of corporate housing studio apartment type of thing. It's been ok, and it got us by. Obviously, we took only what would fit in my car...a mix of the bare necessities and a few comforts (such as my guitar and cameras). Earlier this month, we moved into our permanent apartment. We were so desperate for some extra space to live in that I've been sleeping on the floor for weeks.

Well, not any more. All of our things have returned. [info]nancyblue's books. My electronics gear. The art for our walls. Our games. Computer accessories. Hardware. Clothes. Most important of all...our bed.

It's been an interestingly long time to be without our things. We once left everything behind to spend a summer in Seattle, again living in a small(ish) space and having only a minimum of our things. I think the difference, however, was that we always knew the time in Seattle was short-lived and that our things and our lives were back in Florida awaiting our return. In this case, life has been very much about "making it" out here and we haven't had the luxury of really thinking too much about anything else.

The results are interesting. For example, I have forgotten much of what I own. Unpacking has almost been like Christmas for me. Case and point-- I needed some black shoes for a party, but I couldn't find my boots. I asked [info]nancyblue what I should do, and she told me to wear my black Converse sneakers. I stupidly gaped at her and said "Wait. I still own those?"

[info]someblondguy, [info]girlpurple, and B. came over on the second day of unpacking. [info]someblondguy helped me finish the final unloading of the storage unit, and then everyone helped with the assembly of book shelves and the unpacking of our library. I got the TV and Wii set up on the entertainment center. The bed got reassembled on Saturday, and I've had two blissful nights of sleep as a result. Kitchenware is getting unpacked, bringing with it the promise that, for the first time in four months, I can cook a proper dinner.

As the boxes start to clear, my mind starts returning to projects left undone since the move. It feels like things are returning to a state of normalcy. I have always felt that I have a home, because I make my home where I must. Yet, at the same time, it takes a certain amount of self-discipline and focus to ignore the missing comforts. I'm starting to feel like, for the first time since I was laid off, that I can let my guard down a little.

I have the comforts of home again. Now we just need to hang onto it through this shitstorm of a recession.
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Zicam: it's what you're not smelling [Jun. 17th, 2009|02:48 pm]
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Wow. Just...wow. Please, everyone, pay attention.

I just got informed that the product Zicam has been removed from the shelf by the FDA. I'm grateful to know a product like this is finally being removed, but I know that it's likely people out there might have it in their medicine chests or they might know someone who does. Please spread the word.

Why is Zicam being taken from the shelves? Well, in part, it's for making medical claims without going through the FDA.

More importantly, though, is that it is reasonably demonstrated to destroy your sense of smell.

Please tell your friends. I'd hate for someone to have this stuff laying around in their medicine cabinet, not having been properly warned, and then end up damaging a very, very important sense.
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A potentially useful application of Twitter [Jun. 16th, 2009|10:02 am]
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It should come as no surprise to anyone that I really don't hold deep love for Twitter. Yes, I am aware you can do important things with it. Yes, I'm aware that basically everyone else uses it and one day I probably will, too. Yes, I'm aware of my pattern of grousing about something and then later embracing it. Yes, I'm a cynical rat bastard and everyone else "understands" "digital culture." Those are go-rounds we can have all day.

I think I have found one case, however, where I would find it particularly useful. I've been looking at the tweets used during the recent election brouhaha in Iran, and the short message format and abbreviated instructions about repeating messages and such made me realize that Twitter is essentially being used in a fashion similar to an amateur radio network. I want to see an amateur radio Twitter bridge.

This might sound stupid if you're coming from the perspective of just being a Twitter user. After all, Twitter is optimized for use on mobile devices, which are themselves already radios, and shouldn't those operate everywhere? In reality, no. I can take a car (or even a bike) to the hills just outside Saratoga, CA, and lose my cellular coverage. Cellular phones likewise work for shit when you're up in the air. Cell coverage is also spotty when you're on a boat, and satellite transmissions aren't perfectly reliable.

Aside from that, you can build a CW (i.e. Morse code) transceiver from scrap you find in cars and television sets, and a tiny amount of power goes a very, very long distance on the lower frequency bands.

All of this is to say that amateur radio is still a very powerful way to get messages over long distances using limited technology and no infrastructure. Skillful operation can span continents and oceans.

The problem, however, is that CW communication requires knowing Morse code. This is a skill that's dying. In other words, to get a message out to others currently requires that you find someone else operating CW, have an exchange with them, and hope that they follow through on the message relay.

That's where Twitter comes in.

Imagine an automated Twitter relay that takes CW and digital transmissions on the low frequency amateur bands and tweets this information. A given CW operator can generally transmit and copy at 5-20 words per minute, and thus a 140 character tweet shouldn't take more than 1-3 minutes to hear or send. Most important in this, though, is that Twitter requires virtually no special skills to use. If you're the partner of someone who's gone off into some difficult and remote part of the world, you'd be able to leave messages for them to receive from virtually any digital device in the modern world. You could get immediate alerts, even when satellite access is poor or when the amateur bands are too noisy for the higher bandwidth SSB voice transmissions.

And this is thinking of only the extreme case of low-power, high-distance transmissions on CW. Those same bands can be used for digital transmissions, where even the slowest communication would provide tweeting and copying of tweets within seconds.

And, for the more at-home situations, there's connecting Twitter and the APRS, which already provides Internet routing of local tactical radio packet data. Much of the information on the APRS is, sadly, being used for nebbishy purposes...most people believe it's a vehicle locating system...but I'm thinking more along the lines of post-emergency activity. At-tag an amateur radio callsign, and the tweet goes right into the APRS for delivery. APRS messages should likewise be able to be sent to Twitter for public record and to direct messages.

This may sound nerdy, and maybe it is. The biggest case for amateur radio, however, remains that it is an infrastructure-free means of communication. This makes it ideal for the last mile where conditions are quite unique...where terrain is difficult, support is lacking, or where that last mile is actually a thousand miles. After every major hurricane in the southeast, calls go out for amateur radio operators who can work in a self-contained fashion. This tells me all I need to know - even in a modern country like America, we need people who specialize in infrastructure-free communication.

So, why not tie this last mile to a system that is used by every news bureau, public figure, activist, and man on the street? Why not bring those clever Twitter tricks to the most hard-to-reach places?

Makes sense to me.
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Back from Jamaica [Jun. 15th, 2009|12:48 pm]
Jamaica was a pretty good time, aside from a nasty and rather undeserved hangover on Saturday. I'll write about it at greater length when I have some pictures to go with it. Getting some lunch and putting in a delivery order for the storage unit is taking priority.
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New bikestuff. Also, off to Jamaica. [Jun. 9th, 2009|11:05 am]
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Last week, I ran over a jagged piece of automotive steel. It lodged in my bike's rear tire and, every time the wheel rolled over, it punctured my inner tube in another place. By the time the tube lost enough pressure for me to notice, there were 8 punctures in a small pattern on it. I tried to patch it twice on the side of the road, but I was being too hasty and not letting the glue cure, and the patches weren't really fully covering the massive punctures, so it wasn't holding air. Had to walk the bike back home. Suck suck.

After getting the inner tube attended to, I decided to look over the tire. Sure enough, it's been slashed to hell. This isn't a surprise, as I ride daily and for utility. That means I ride where there are cars, car wrecks, and debris from car wrecks. The distance and the road shrapnel adds up. So, I ordered a pair of Armadillo tires, a brand of puncture-resistant tires with a layer of kevlar in them. That should fix it. That adds a few ounces to my weight, yes, but I can pretty trivially fix that by changing out some things in my packs.

I've also picked up some new cycling clothes. 15 miles a day for a work week is right around where street clothes start chafing me, so I've been wearing cycling clothes for the last few weeks, and I finally bought enough to fill up the work week with fresh clothes. One thing that has frustrated my poor absent mind has been that you don't wear underwear under bike shorts, but I always forget to add underwear to my packs, and then I have to go commando all day. Well, there was a huge sale on something called "cycling briefs" from Canari. They fit like a pair of boxer-briefs. The chamois in them is much thinner and smaller, but it's more than sufficient for my commute. Best of all, though, is that I can slip a pair of pants over them comfortably and nobody's the wiser.

My brother's getting married in Jamaica, so I'm off to spend a few days with my family. This should be interesting, since I've decided I'm on vacation and I'm not going to be quite so self-censoring. I've got some clothes that are a cross of early-century Caribbean attire and modern rudeboy wear. I've got my straw Panama hat. I've got a box of cigars. I've got Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Kitchen Confidential to read. My mom asked how she'd find me when she got to the resort, and I quipped "Just ask a bartender where the loud asshole with the hat is." She responded "Oh, you're going to be in Hunter S. Thompson mode?" I just laughed and said "I dunno. Maybe halfway."

I just gotta finish a few hours of work and then I'm off!
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It's Japanese for "waste money and smoke" [Jun. 7th, 2009|07:59 pm]
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I got two babies this weekend!

The first is the kitten...and yes, pictures will be on the way courtesy of [info]nancyblue if they haven't already.

The second...is a pachinko machine. I found it for $70 at a thrift furniture store. I am not 100% clear on the year it was made. These things are so mass-produced that they have no "made on" date and collectors usually guess their age based on the date on its public license for use. Unfortunately, the ink has faded from mine, so I can see the kanji for "year", "month", and "day", but there's nothing written in the gaps.

First guess, though, is that it's 1960s vintage. It's a Nishijin and some of the labels are in English. Nishijin apparently tried exporting pachinko to America in the 1960s and 1970s. A similarly marked one online suggested the late 1960s.

Anyway, I gave it a once-over cleaning to get the crap out of its chutes and then gave it a whirl. Looks like it's in working nick, or at least, it was once I reattached some parts that had come loose. The game is almost completely mechanical, but there are some minor electrical components that will require 10V DC. One of them seems to be a relay that opens a gate to the launcher, so electricity will be essential when I finally put it up.

Amusingly, it has a built-in ash tray, because if you're going to sit on your ass wasting money at pachinko, it helps to smoke a lot.

The metal is in a somewhat sad state, unfortunately. It looks like the chrome is flaking off and the metal underneath is rusting. I have no idea how to fix that.

The wood could use some lacquer and it would benefit from being in a cabinet, too. I'm no woodworker, though, so I'll probably have to pay someone for that.

Pics to follow.
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TF5, 6/5/09 [Jun. 5th, 2009|12:31 pm]
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From [info]thefridayfive

1. What do you feel is the most important quality in a close friend?

A true desire and capacity to elevate everyone.

2. What is the one quality in a stranger you'd just met that would make you want to get to know them better?

Probably if I saw kindness in his/her eyes. I guess sometimes I hear it in the tones of his/her voice instead. It's the kindness I'm looking for, though...a sign that this person interacts genuinely and for the joy of everyone involved, and especially without being competitive or aggressive. Sadly, I see way too much of the latter qualities.

3. What do you think is the most important quality in a good leader?

There are so many good choices here, and most of them are equally fundamental. The most fundamental I can think of, though, is that a good leader is always loyal to the team. A good leader speaks up for the team, shows its best qualities to others, and never sells out a subordinate. When subordinates know that the leader is on their side, they're far less likely to look out for themselves and far more likely to look out for the team.

4. What is the one thing that makes a child likable to you?

Honestly? Being asleep. The truth of the matter is that it's not as simple as my being a grump that doesn't like kids. I just don't know how to interact with them. People tell me all the time that it's easy and I just have to act like a kid, too, and play. When I was a kid, I had my nose buried in programming guides and science books. I didn't know how to be a kid when I was a kid, so I have no frame of reference as an adult.

5. What do you think is the one thing that makes a good parent (other than loving their children)?

Being the model for good societal values. This means, for example, teaching children the difference between anger and justice by never punishing a child out of emotion. It means teaching children that education is liberating rather than drudgery by continuing their own education and including children in the process. It means engagement with people of all kinds through a sense of human unity and cultural curiosity.

In the end, all these things come down to one thing, though-- as a parent, you're the world to your child, so be the best world you can imagine.

I say that, by the way, never wanting to be a parent myself.
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The Joy of Engineering [Jun. 4th, 2009|04:22 pm]
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Every computer engineer lives for the day when all the pieces fall together and something previously considered impractical or impossible comes alive at the workbench.

Today was one of those days for me.
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So this is that job satisfaction thing... [Jun. 4th, 2009|01:50 pm]
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I rarely eat lunch away from the office...I'm always in the middle of some task that I want to get done or I otherwise don't want to spend an hour away and thinking about not-work stuff.

I keep procrastinating on taking my bike to the bike shop to have the slashed-up rear tire looked at and possibly replaced, as I really want to get one more part of my project done.

I want to stay in on weekend nights and work because I can think of some other work thing to be doing that'd be neat to get done.

Hm.

I guess I like my job.
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Crunchberries: Not Berries [Jun. 4th, 2009|10:08 am]
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From the headdesk-and-facepalm news bureau:

Woman sues for fraud; claims she was duped to think "crunchberries" actual berries

That's it. It's only 10:00 and I already need a drink.
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