ipsin
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "ipsin" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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07:46 am
[Link] | Things I saw on the morning hike, and the drive back:
- Tick! I really didn't think the Angeles had ticks. I can't imagine why I thought that, but now I know better. It grabbed onto a cloth bag I was carrying, and as usual it was almost impossible to kill. I ended up grinding it between the bag and some concrete.
- An LA Child Protective Services van, parked in front of someone's house. Man, that's not something I'd want, even if I worked for Child Protective Services. Also, way to make it look like the "Kiddy Pound".
- The usual squirrels, bugs and flowers. Y'know, nature.
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04:37 pm
[Link] | Woo. Updated my Android phone to Cupcake (1.5). Android, cupcake... Can they pick names? No, they can't.
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07:28 pm
[Link] | Ladies and Gentlemen, a re-enactment of the "Surprise Attack" from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, at what should have been the court martial of James Kirk. Did anyone ever explain how he beat this "negligent douche" rap?
Sulu: Captain, ship approaching. It's the Bingo Chip Delivery Ship Reliant out of Olderon 5. Starfleet records indicate it's not due in this sector for another ten... stardates? centons? months. months.
Kirk: Huh, weird. Well, it takes all kinds.
Saavik: Sir, may I quote General Order 12: "In this exact situation, raise you goddamned..."
Spock: Don't even try, he's been pulling this shit for twenty fucking years.
Uhura: They claim that P2P Traffic has overloaded their comm system
Spock: What does that even mean? It kind of sounds made-up. Sensors indicate that they're unfurling a giant banner on the side of the ship. On screen.
Kirk: (reading) "Fuck.. you.. Captain.. Kirk?" Uhura, let them know I've been promoted.
Kirk: Damn peculiar... Scan for hot alien women?... I don't know, I have no idea what to do in a situation like this.
Spock: They're raising shields...
Kirk: (looks thoughtful)
Spock: They're locking phasers.
Kirk: Damn, I figured everyone heard I was promotBLAMMO
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10:20 am
[Link] |
The J Stands for Money and the D is for Diamond.
Today's light reading, "Easter Island's End".
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04:50 pm
[Link] | I went today to see the Lifestyle Consultants at the Apple Store, and to check out their new Mac Mini. I must say, the OS seems decent, but it's configured so you can't break anything, so I'm still not sure how much I'd like it in the long term.
I went in with three questions:- Dual monitors, eh? What would I need to support that on the Mini, given my particular setup?
- How does upgrading your OS work? If I buy a machine now and the new operating system comes out soon, am I hosed?
- If my mouse has three buttons, should I just throw it in the trash, or can I actually use more than one of them?
I suspect now that what I actually wanted was the "Apple Dents and Dings" store, where they sell the damaged goods, and where the floor staff are all Windows apostates, Linux dorks and the Amiga damned.
Most of the people coming in probably have questions like "I want to put my pictures on my computer on the Internet". That isn't even a question, but it has the virtue of being easy.
I think that I just want to spend a few minutes watching a convert carefully, doing the sorts of things I might want to do (development), and see if that looks like fun.
I didn't really get a good answer to the question about monitors, more "this is what we have, you may want to buy something online", without solid specifics on which something would want.
I got a good answer to the OS question, but it wasn't satisfying. If a new OS comes out, "I still have a great operating system on my machine". Yeah, but if that were true, why would you be selling me the newer, greater OS for $125? There isn't even a short-term grace period or a discount on the first upgrade? That same $125 would let me install the same great operating system on a comparatively cheaper Hackintosh.
I understand that getting a non-Apple computer to run OS X is like putting a spoiler on your Ford Explorer or hacking your AOL account. It violently misses the point, making something hard out of something easy. It may also be part of who I am.
The two questions were tough enough that I didn't even bother with the third. I was hoping for experience, but I probably should've realized I'd be better off asking google.
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11:46 pm
[Link] | I've been playing around with pepper-infused alcohol in cooking. I like the raw heat more than what I'd get with an oil infusion, and I prefer the (lack of?) flavor to that from using habaneros.
Also: I want a resource other than wikipedia to tell me that "habañero" is not a word. Oh. Right. I own Spanish/English dictionaries. In, uh, the other room.
Edit: Well, at least one American English dictionary accepts either spelling. Attention: Non-American Linguists Required!
Edit 2: My Spanish-English dictionary only offers "habanero" as "from Havana" or "person from Havana". Way to not answer my question, book!
Anyway, back to our program. Crushed red pepper infusions. Hot. Good. I made a tomato and eggplant dish on Sunday, and I was pleased. This time, I'm putting 8 ounces of crushed red in a mason jar with some vodka. I'll let it steep, but I tried a tiny bit and it seems like it's heading in the right direction.
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07:37 am
[Link] |
they're trying to piss me off on purpose
"A policeman's job is only easy in a police state."
——Touch of Evil
Oh, goodie, it's another stab at mandatory data retention.Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.
The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates. Even the name of the thing is designed to inspire rage: Two bills have been introduced so far--S.436 in the Senate and H.R.1076 in the House. Each of the companion bills is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act," or Internet Safety Act. I guess the For the Childrunnnnn Act didn't have the same ring, huh?
Great. Ok, let me get right on that... "Yes, officer, I do happen to have the logs from wireless access point from 19 months ago. I'm quite pleased that I went to all that effort, because I have no idea what would happen to me if I were found in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2703.
You'll be pleased to know that a computer having or claiming to have the MAC address 00:DD:EE:FA:CE:09 connected to my network! That device received an IP address, and then connected to 23,193 different URLs on 60 different sites, and... Oh, I see, the computer is evidence and you're collecting it? Awesome, thanks, let me know when you're done with it."
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07:09 am
[Link] | Meanwhile, in WhatTheFuckistan...The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week already has six young children and never expected that the fertility treatment she received would result in eight more babies, her mother said Thursday.
She acknowledged that raising 14 children is a daunting prospect. Um. Yeah. Imagine how much easier it'd be if you were raising a smaller number of children, like, say, six? Wouldn't that be nice? This wasn't even a case of crazy fertility drugs — all those embryos were implanted. Under the guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, U.S. doctors normally would not implant more than two embryos at a time in a woman under the age of 35. After that age it is more difficult to become pregnant. The mother of the octuplets is believed to be 33, based on available public records. I really hope she doesn't end up on some "High Score!" Reality TV show, though if it happens, I'll only read about it.
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11:40 pm
[Link] |
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Edit: I guess this is one in a long line of Security State Toys, like SWAT boats (boats? really?), and SWAT helicopter with jet skier.
According to Amazon, the bad guy is on a jet ski and the guy in the helicopter is the one holding the rifle, which is... awesome?
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12:25 pm
[Link] | SEC Error: Governance Not Found (pdf)
http://404.gov
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09:24 am
[Link] | Self-Adjusting Lenses for the Poor
"[Joshua] Silver has attached plastic syringes filled with silicone oil on each bow of the glasses; the wearer adds or subtracts the clear liquid with a little dial on the pump until the focus is right. After that adjustment, the syringes are removed and the "adaptive glasses" are ready to go."
I love the idea of closing the loop. No eye exam, no waiting weeks or months for a pair of glasses to arrive. Speaking of glasses, once I get an eye exam I'm thinking of buying glasses from these cheap bastards, because I know people who were happy with what they got.
I wonder if it's possible that we could do the same with diagnosis, drug fabrication and dispensation, and have it be something other than a "Mr. Cocaine".
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12:26 pm
[Link] | Didn't sleep last night.
Stuff happened.
Unrelated, a new Project Euler problem. I didn't know about the Heighway Dragon, or that (taken four at a time) it was a space-filling curve.
( Instead of solving the problem, my plague-brain decided it'd be easier to illustrate, for now. )
Maybe I need a mathdork filter.
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07:42 pm
[Link] | More Project Euler. I should seriously put this crap on my résumé.
"Did random problems on some dumb-ass website"
I just finished Problem 178, which was kind of cool.
Consider the number 45656.
It can be seen that each pair of consecutive digits of 45656 has a difference of one.
A number for which every pair of consecutive digits has a difference of one is called a step number.
A pandigital number contains every decimal digit from 0 to 9 at least once.
How many pandigital step numbers less than 1040 are there?
Problem 219 is the latest one to be eating my brain.
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11:11 pm
[Link] |
I'm waiting for my DARPA funding...
(38739365601229628279867031410242354752288598841148625217)10=
(104SFMA8KOWRIXAXDJQG3DRC6NUTPUNCHER0H)35
(D3X31N9A5Q5M67I4801P5O45NUTPUNCHER0H)36
The problem, as stated:
"How many prime numbers less than 101000 contain the string 'NUTPUNCHER' when written in both base 35 and base 36?"
It's an unreasonably hard problem, but I found one anyway. This is how I spend my spare time, evidently.
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07:54 am
[Link] | There's a lot of supposed Republican vigilance when it comes to vote fraud. Nevada ACORN got into trouble because they were submitting registrations from fictitious people, but who can say whether those were troublemakers, people paid by the registration, or something else. Now it's impossible to say if any of it would've resulted in an attempt to cast a fraudulent vote.
What I love, though, is that this supposed vigilance waves goodbye when you get into the territory of absentee voting fraud.
If I opened a storefront and used it as a mailing address for homeless and indigent would-be voters, wouldn't I end up in jail in short order?
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11:43 am
[Link] | Dates. Radishes the sizes of apples, with a crisp, apple-like body. Avocados. Asparagus. Strawberries. Basil. Heirloom tomatoes. Beets. Spinach. Green salad mix.
Pasadena Farmer's market is kind of cool.
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08:42 am
[Link] | Where are the futuristic visualization tools I need?
Picture a walled glass container in the shape of the US. The elevation corresponds to population density, so cities are big raised bumps and the sparse areas are at the bottom.
Now fill the glass to a certain level, which I will call "How much people like Republicans".
Everything above water goes Democrat, everything below Republican. Right now the water's pretty low.
I wonder how well this sort of visualization tracks with sites like electoral-vote.com. I would do this, but... my povray skills are weak.
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05:17 pm
[Link] | Bank Robber 'Hires' Accomplices on Craigslist
An A for Originality, anyway.
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12:57 am
[Link] |
Why I don't accept the Zimbabwean Express Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_dollar#Third_dollar
1 (third) ZWD = 10,000,000,000 (second) ZWD
1 (third) ZWD = 10,000,000,000,000 (first) ZWD
The first ZWD was discontinued July 2006. The second ZWD was discontinued in July 2008.
September 1st, 2008
1 USD buys 3,362.11 (third) ZWD
October 1st, 2008
1 USD buys 1,418,021.35 (third) ZWD, which would be equivalent to
14,180,213,500,000,000,000 (first) ZWD.
14 quintillion Zimbabwean dollars.
40,000% inflation in one month. I cannot imagine.
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08:25 am
[Link] |
old saws made new
Don't punch a Sunday mule and call it chicken.
I'm not really sure why or how that ended up in my head.
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