Home on Joel S Aufrecht Home Page

A chart of all major league seasons of all major league baseball teams, ever.

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This is a chart of all major league teams’ seasons of major-league baseball ever played, including all leagues and years determined by the powers that be as major-league.

We Have Solar at Home Part 10: The Answer

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Previously: We Have Solar at Home Part 9. The Spreadsheet We—meaning you the reader—still don’t know how much we—meaning my household—paid for electricity in 20231.

We Have Solar at Home Part 9: True-up.

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We Have Solar at Home Part 10. Previously: We Have Solar at Home Part 8.

We Have Solar at Home Part 8: The PG&E Bill

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We Have Solar at Home Part 9. Previously: We Have Solar at Home Part 7.

We Have Solar at Home Part 7: Two Years Later Continued

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We Have Solar at Home Part 8. Previously: We Have Solar at Home Part 6.

We have Solar at Home Part 6: Two Years Later

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We have Solar at Home Part 7. Previously: We have Solar at Home Part 5.

We have Solar at Home Part 5: Installation; GreenPowerSF

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We have Solar at Home Part 6. Previously: We have Solar at Home Part 4.

We have Solar at Home Part 4: When will it pay off?

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We have Solar at Home Part 5. Previously: We have Solar at Home Part 3.

We have Solar at Home Part 3: How Much Electricity …?

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We have Solar at Home Part 4. Previously: We have Solar at Home Part 2.

We Have Solar at Home Part 2: How Much Will It Cost?

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Next: We have Solar at Home Part 3 Previously: We have Solar at Home Part 1.

We Have Solar at Home Part 1: Can We Get Solar?

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Author’s Note: This is a multi-part brain dump on everything I learned getting solar panels for a house.

Wear a Mask. You're Ugly

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 17:27:36 -0700

It’s not medical. It’s not political. It’s personal.

Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? Coup Edition

Thu, 14 May 2020 23:58:37 -0700

The Venezuelan government announced on Tuesday that it had arrested 13 combatants in what it categorized as a failed incursion.

Sitemap

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Projects A Big Red Button as a one-key USB keyboard A safe, effective workstation Urim, or, an API for fortune-telling What Next?

The second time I read Gideon the Ninth

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 21:24:52 -0700

Spoilers Some details came out only on the second read-through. The end of chapter 6, for example.

Harrowhawk's face

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 21:08:24 -0700

Spurred by Gideon the Ninth’s Hugo nomination, I present this list of descriptions of Harrowhawk Nonagesimus’s face:

Configuring KDE to claim more rights

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 22:56:00 -0700

Computers should be safe, moral, sane, usable, and productive. From advertising to crashes to privacy problems to slave-made ingredients, they mostly aren’t.

Bass Wars

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 22:35:25 -0700

This is what the bass looks like.

Successful Craft Project

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 22:35:25 -0700

Simple successes are often the most satisfying.

The 2020 version of the Desk

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 22:34:45 -0800

After about eight years of on-and-off tinkering, the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot Desk is now a Sit/Stand/Play-Piano Desk.

Reflections on Gideon the Ninth

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 19:28:03 -0800

Spoilers follow for Gideon the Ninth.

More Gideon

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 04:32:37 +0000

Spoiler warning. An example of how every cavalier and necromancer gets at least one perfect line—not a ‘good’ line, necessarily, but a line that combines with everything else we know about the character, and about the situation in which they say the line, to play the chord of the character.

Overheard in SF

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 21:01:31 -0800

His tab was thirty-five hundred. Todd told him […] We didn’t have an after party so he told him […] He just closed a really big deal and his commission was like fifty kay.

Dodgers|Giants|Analysis: What good is bad data?

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:29:23 -0800

The advertisements in San Francisco are very localized but have much higher budgets and production values than typical local business ads for car dealers and real estate agents.

Failure is not an option in Python

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 21:18:00 -0700

Python log levels include …

Homeless Blockchain

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

“We have at least 1,400 homeless people in our city, and that includes many right here at UC Berkeley,” Bartlett told the class.

The Stagecoach & The Snowmen

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Wells Fargo continues its holiday advertising tradition with an encore of “The Stagecoach & The Snowmen” — a television commercial that struck a chord in its 2013 debut with themes of selflessness and working together.

Biden, like SFUSD, like White San Francisco parents, like most Democrats, does not support busing

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 23:34:21 -0700

We’re now having a debate about Biden’s opposition to busing in the mid-1970s, and whether that is beyond the pale for a Democratic nominee in 2019.

CloudFlare's bandwidth peering with Telstra and other bad actors

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 21:21:30 +0000

For instance, if Telstra were to peer with CloudFlare then they would only have to move traffic over about 30 meters of fiber optic cable between our adjoining cages in the same data center.

Overheard in San Francisco

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 20:56:51 -0700

—was missing for almost a year. They just found him.

DIY Smut

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 15:55:04 -0700

I just used a Dremel to saw a notch into a stripped Ikea hex nut.

SFUSD Lottery

Wed, 15 May 2019 10:22:15 -0700

“San Francisco Had an Ambitious Plan to Tackle School Segregation.

Restorative Nudges for fare jumpers

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 18:41:06 -0800

It’s not that Almere is making its public transport free—users are still expected to pay.

Reification of Spam

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 22:28:42 -0800

Still harder for me to grasp was the total interpenetration of e-commerce and physical space.

Trumponomics Book Review

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 22:25:22 -0800

It’s as if Robert McNamara published a book in 1968 boasting of his successful efforts to persuade Lyndon Johnson that the Vietnam War would be won by 1967.

Content Cycle

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 22:22:49 -0800

Some people might complain that the Content Cycle is corrosive and demeaning — that it’s cynical and even fraudulent to strip minor joking tweets of any context and to present them to audiences for the sole intent of generating outsized emotional reactions.

Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? Hollywood Edition

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:53:09 +0000

Consider Les and Jeffrey. A New York Times exposé1 published Wednesday revealed a previously unreported sexual assault accusation made against former CBS chair Les Moonves that ultimately led to his firing.

Pentagon Budget intentionally unauditable

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:00:59 +0000

It’s not news that the Pentagon’s budgeting is impenetrable. This is due to some mix of the earnest difficulty of tracking hundreds of billions of dollars a year in spending, partly due to incompetence, and partly intentional, to hide secret programs.

Hat 101

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 21:10:00 -0700

Hat #101

What to expect when the NSA calls you

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 15:54:17 -0800

Dave instructed me to hang up the phone and dial 411 (information) and ask the operator for the main number to the naval base in Bethesda, MD.

A very long sequence of small files

Thu, 22 Nov 2018 03:01:22 +0000

In The Golden Compass, Dust permeates the world. It is created by consciousness and is itself conscious, and can condense into angels.

Everything the CIA touches turns to …

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 21:20:08 -0700

Previously: Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents

Secret Ballots and unintended consequences

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 21:20:08 -0700

[In 1888], in Kentucky, a state still voting viva voce, the legislature attempted the reform in Louisville.

An actual bit of progress in IoT security

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:05:58 -0800

Consumer Reports is starting to evaluate the security of IoT devices.

The Other Collusion

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:25:48 -0800

… MLB team owners were found to have colluded against players by limiting free-agent contracts in three consecutive offseasons: 1985, 1986, and 1987.

Yet another angle to the Amazon HQ2 Scam

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:19:41 -0800

Amazon.com this month narrowed down 238 applicants for its second headquarters to 20 cities, but experts say it got something even from the losing bidders: A rich trove of information that can benefit the company for years to come.

These two stories exist in the same world

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:04:56 -0800

In late 1997, BMG Interactive released Grand Theft Auto … In March 1998, convinced that its foray into video games had been a waste of time and money, BMG – under the instruction of owner Bertelsmann – agreed to sell off BMG Interactive.

Creeping Socialism

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:58:00 -0800

Maxine Phillips joined the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee about 40 years ago, before it became the D.

Medicare for All

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:46:13 -0800

This year, a majority of House Democratic candidates endorsed Medicare for All, according to the union National Nurses United.

No magic technology needed, just social technology

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:22:39 -0800

Remarking on the towering filters being installed alongside junctions in Delhi, York University’s Ally Lewis, professor of atmospheric chemistry, likened filtering outdoor air to “trying to air-condition a room with the roof off”.

Risk Free Ripcord

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:14:17 -0800

Essentially, we all have a risk-free ripcord we can pull at the first pang of boredom or desire for novelty, and of course those pangs occur constantly.

Have Wild Horses Dragged You to the Wrong Bank?

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:09:36 -0800

… judges and regulators have ruled that when a business makes a claim that is either vague or so obviously inflated that people simply won’t believe it, that’s “puffery,” and not actionable in court.

Colorado Abolishes Prison Slavery

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 20:05:18 -0800

More than 150 years after the ratification of the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment, Colorado has officially abolished slavery.

Zero Day Contest

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 18:38:34 -0800

Finally, researcher Michael Contreras received $25,000 for hacking the Xiaomi Mi 6 browser.

Probably for the best

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:44:05 -0800

“Kris didn’t deserve to win,” another Republican said. “He does things his own way, check logic and reason at the door.

State Seats 2018

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:29:44 -0800

“My frustration with us as Democrats is we’re focused on the immediate, the here and the now,” Kelly Dietrich, head of the National Democratic Training Committee, told TPM.

American Plutocracy

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:29:31 -0800

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said the transition period will be “very unusual, because I can’t really take a salary.

Amazon's HQs will be where Bezos owns homes

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:29:18 -0800

“I lease office space all the time for my businesses and I always tell my real estate agent, ‘We can lease any office in the world as long as I can walk there from where I live,’” Galloway said on the latest episode.

Too Much Information About This Website

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why would you ever click on this?

Imperialism as the state religion

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 20:47:50 -0800

For the seventh year in a row, McClean, the Republic of Ireland and Stoke City midfielder, refused to wear a Remembrance poppy on his jersey to honor British military personnel who have died in war.

Carlson vs Caruana

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 20:39:59 -0800

When he went down 1-0 in Game 8, Carlsen said that even worse than the prospect of losing the title was the feeling that Karjakin—then the world No.

Far more time commuting in a car than going on vacation

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 20:26:59 -0800

Arity researchers said most people average 321 hours in the car each year and get 120 hours of vacation.

Adam is Sexiest

Tue, 06 Nov 2018 13:30:45 -0800

“It has happened before,” Channing said. “It will happen again.

Epic Suck

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 22:11:03 -0800

Carol Hawthorne-Johnson, an intensive-care-unit nurse in California, said her hospital doesn’t shut down the Epic system during the fall time change.

Back to One Second

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 04:37:00 +0000

I previously blogged about this website’s transition to Django. While I’m continuing to use Django for my web programming projects, I switched to static site generation for Aufrecht.

Trickle Up

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 22:21:16 -0700

Apple’s revenues come from purchases made by consumers across the entire wealth distribution, but … [t]he preponderance of Apple’s income is transferred to shareholders, who largely fall into the upper echelon of the economy.

Trans-Exclusionary Feminism is Right Wing

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:58:43 -0700

We note … the leveraging of the fear that an inclusive and compassionate system will merely be exploited by those who are not the intended beneficiaries, whether ‘benefits scroungers’, ‘bogus asylum seekers’, or ‘fake’ trans women.

Implicit consent to be touched

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:51:13 -0700

The night I broke my back in a ballet rehearsal was not the first time my own body betrayed me, but it was the first time I realized how I had been complicit in its sacrifice.

No-Fly Zone

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:46:31 -0700

Jockey, one of the most recognizable underwear brands in the country, reports that while no-fly styles are gaining momentum in the marketplace, underwear that comes equipped with a fly still currently makes up about 75% of their total product offering.

Sunburnt Australia

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 21:11:58 -0700

So frequently, the women’s pages of Australian newspapers made the subtext text—golden skin was gold only so long as it was developed on the surface of white skin.

Megan Nolan

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 21:11:12 -0700

… After calling the women “scroungers” and demanding to know whether they had jobs, one of the men took the decapitated head of a pigeon out of his pocket and threw it at them.

Samothrace on the Wilammette

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 17:26:46 -0700

The extent of the personal considerations Knight seemed to expect in exchange for his financial gifts to the University of Oregon also surprised Frohnmayer.

The only exception is 2 Chainz

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 11:20:17 -0700

Martinez has spent most of his 40-year career in Manhattan office buildings, sometimes coming in and out of meetings throughout the city three or four times a day.

Valley Culture

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 09:18:01 -0700

We know that “if you aren’t the customer, you are the product” explains the awful design of most of the software, websites, and modern media we interact with.

Only

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 09:04:41 -0700

Most CPUs can only practically handle tens of billions of arithmetic operations per second

Don't despair

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 17:06:59 +0000

The rights of working people, of women, of black people have not depended on decisions of the courts.

Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? Baseball Edition

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 19:39:00 +0000

(Previously in the “Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?

Visual Pollution Blockers

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 18:51:41 +0000

Their IRL Glasses, which launched on Kickstarter this week, block [video] screens.

π and the digital land rush.

Sun, 07 Oct 2018 23:05:00 -0700

A second-level domain name can be up to 63 characters long.

The galloping hypothesis

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 23:45:21 -0700

In 1996, in what has become known as the galloping hypothesis, Chance argued that externalization of the testes was necessary when mammals started to move in ways that sharply increased abdominal pressure.

Ticketmaster Scum

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 20:46:25 -0700

Posing as scalpers and equipped with hidden cameras, the journalists were pitched on Ticketmaster’s professional reseller program.

Human Smell

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 20:36:49 -0700

It is commonly believed that humans have a poor sense of smell compared to other mammalian species.

Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 04:45:35 +0000

It was considered one of the CIA’s worst failures in decades: Over a two-year period starting in late 2010, Chinese authorities systematically dismantled the agency’s network of agents across the country, executing dozens of suspected U.

Obesity: We're doing it wrong

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 04:04:03 +0000

For 60 years, doctors and researchers have known two things that could have improved, or even saved, millions of lives.

Stop Murdering Our Kids

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 20:43:18 -0700

On Temple Street, where 34 people were killed or severely injured within 2.

Revenge, much like calamari, is a dish best served cold

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 23:20:22 -0700

I gave up my scholarship and dropped out of Yale, cut off communication with my friends and moved (with a suitcase of miniskirts and record albums I was forbidden to play) back to my home state of New Hampshire to be with him.

Blockchain Berkeley

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 22:39:52 -0700

“We have at least 1,400 homeless people in our city, and that includes many right here at UC Berkeley,” Bartlett told the class.

Hindsight on the J.D. Drew signing

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 23:05:00 -0700

Dodger fans will be interested to learn that Drew is projected to win more games than Beltre in the next five years, and at a substantial discount.

Why I miss the Daily Dish

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This version is primarily a personal blog, modeled after Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, which other the racism, misogyny, and histrionics is sorely missed.

MAZ DUH

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 16:18:30 -0700

MAZ DUH is a license plate I saw recently. On a Mazda.

AMP is bad

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 12:20:00 -0700

With the goal of assisting site owners in improving page load time for mobile visitors, Google launched the AMP project in 2015.

His Sh*t’s F***ed Up

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 12:20:00 -0700

“Warren said, ‘We have to go into show-biz mode,’” his manager Brigette Barr says in Crystal Zevon’s hair-raising 2007 book, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon.

On the occasion of the iPhone Xs Max

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 12:12:00 -0700

This is tangible progress. The pictures of your second child will be better than the ones of your first, even if your take-home pay hasn’t budged in a decade.

End of Ownership— Canadian iTunes

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 09:13:00 -0700

When you buy a movie on iTunes, it’s yours forever, until such a time as when Apple maybe loses the rights to distribute it, and then it will disappear from your library without a trace.

Privacy

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 23:55:00 +0000

You probably don’t have much privacy. I could see a lot of information about you if you browse this website.

Blockchain unsuitable for election security

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:30:30 -0700

While the notion of using a blockchain as an immutable ballot box may seem promising, blockchain technology does little to solve the fundamental security issues of elections, and indeed, blockchains introduce additional security vulnerabilities.

Believe in something even if …

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 21:15:00 -0700

“Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything” does this mean you can fly a plane into a building?

Hats 92–95

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 17:59:00 +0000

Hat 921 Hat 932 Hat 94:3 Hat 95:4 Ravelry ↩︎ Ravelry ↩︎

Hat 91

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:35:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Hat 89

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 03:37:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Room For Improvement

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 05:01:00 +0000

Here are some articles I had queued up to read, I guess because I need to know these things.

Hat 81

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 05:07:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Hat 90: Purple child hat

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 02:55:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Another baby hat

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 18:09:00 +0000

Hat #87. Ravelry.

More hats

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 04:35:00 +0000

Hat 82: Plain wool hat Hat 83: Ostrich Feather Lace child hat

I voted.

Fri, 28 Oct 2016 04:58:00 +0000

Starting to think about policies for 2018 and 2020 to better balance a) staying informed with b) defending the remaining hours and days of my life from the toxic wasteland of American political news and culture with c) defending my values from the kinds of people who make intentionally pollute American political culture in order to suppress participation in order to promote their policies.

What's a millionaire?

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 03:44:00 +0000

1821, from French millionnaire (1762) …. The first in America is said to have been John Jacob Astor (1763-1848).

Hat 78

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 02:18:00 +0000

Made it for nobody in particular, but somebody claimed it immediately when he saw it.

A space-saving redesign plus more megapixels for the Sit/Stand/Walk Desk

Sat, 03 Sep 2016 02:51:00 +0000

I rebuilt the Sit/Stand/Walk desk from an A-frame to a foot-deep rectangle so that it takes up a few feet less space back-to-front.

Cowl

Tue, 26 Jul 2016 02:49:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Kona, 2005–2016.

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 17:43:00 +0000

I bought Kona on the Day of the Dead, Nov 1, 2006.

Hat 64 is finished

Sat, 07 May 2016 03:06:00 +0000

Ravelry

Hat 75

Fri, 06 May 2016 03:05:00 +0000

Ravelry

More hats, 72-74

Thu, 05 May 2016 03:00:00 +0000

Ravelry Ravelry Ravelry

BMWs getting tickets,

Wed, 04 May 2016 02:51:00 +0000

BMWs getting tickets, part 12

Tue, 03 May 2016 02:50:00 +0000

Please be sure to get the correct sponge for your gender

Mon, 02 May 2016 02:47:00 +0000

Kona waits for her chicken

Sun, 01 May 2016 02:46:00 +0000

More Baby hats.

Sun, 10 Apr 2016 23:03:00 +0000

Hat 70. Ravelry. Hat 71. Ravelry. My queue is down to four more baby hats.

Hats 66, 69

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 02:39:00 +0000

Ravelry. Ravelry.

The god that takes hostages

Mon, 07 Mar 2016 05:22:00 +0000

As someone who’s had their car and apartment broken into, I have some sympathy for the presumably frustrated author of this note:

Hat 65

Mon, 07 Mar 2016 04:59:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Hats 67, 68, and three in progress

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 06:20:00 +0000

What will be hat 64 is coming along: Hat 65 is almost finished:

Hats 62 and 63

Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:40:00 +0000

Cranking out the quick baby hats. I suckered a receipient (father, not the fetus) into making most of 63.

Hat 60

Sat, 19 Dec 2015 20:00:00 +0000

This hat has not been seen since shortly after it was completed.

Hat 61

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 20:00:00 +0000

Ravelry. Hat 60, meanwhile, has mysteriously gone missing.

Hat 58

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 20:54:00 +0000

This pattern is just the tiniest bit tricky because the written pattern is for flat knitting, and has offsets of an extra stitch or two for some rows, but I wasn't paying attention as I converted it to the round, so I got all the offsets backwards.

Hat 59

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 20:52:00 +0000

Finally caught up with all the babies at work, now making hats for fetuses.

Hat 57

Fri, 30 Oct 2015 03:22:00 +0000

Ravelry.

A rare sentiment

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Although I think very few people actually love spam, it does seem likely that most of the people who do, and who might be the market for this billboard, live here in San Francisco.

Hat 56 (Maybe 55)

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:41:00 +0000

I think this is hat 56, but I can't account for hat 55.

Hat 54

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Hat 53

Mon, 12 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Ravelry.

Hat 52

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 19:52:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

Hat 51

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 03:59:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

Hat 50

Sun, 16 Aug 2015 02:51:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

Another hat

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 02:35:00 +0000

Hat #49, the fourth diagonal eyelet hat I got out of the Madeline Tosh Pashmina.

Amateur programming: one error after another

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 04:57:00 +0000

I want to give non-programmers a taste of what programmers are actually doing all day long.

Some more upgrades to the Sit/Stand/Walk Desk: Speaker, Laptop, Phone, Shelf

Sun, 28 Jun 2015 16:00:00 +0000

I realized that I was never putting the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot desk into Sit mode.

One problem with listening to Meatloaf …

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 22:15:00 +0000

… is that you have to prioritize very carefully, because a Meatloaf mood never lasts more than three songs.

Unreinforced Masonry

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 04:51:00 +0000

“The ground is shaking”: video footage of an avalanche in the wake of the Nepal earthquake san-franciscos-most-urgently-needed-retrofits (linkrot)

Argggh! This is simply not right!

Wed, 06 May 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Why would they do this?

Taxi registration

Sun, 03 May 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Whenever I see a black SUV or Prius make an especially aggresive and dangerous maneuver I check the bumper to see if it has a TCP number.

Hat #46: Diagonal Eyelet Inserts (slightly bigger)

Sat, 25 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

Hat #43: Diagonal Eyelet Brocade pattern

Sat, 25 Apr 2015 02:40:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

Hat #44: Diagonal Eyelet Inserts

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Ravelry project.

All's well that ends well

Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

The situation last night: the Dodgers have trailed from the very first inning, when fifth starter David Huff surrendered three runs on a single and two homers.

Desire lines

Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

This is what it looks like when pedestrians find the built infrastructure too limiting and blaze their own trail.

What does kosher mean today?

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 02:59:00 +0000

“Now you can buy a pair of trousers for under ten euros at Primark”—a low-cost European chain—“but this will be a brief trend, and then it will be gone.

Where are you going?

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

The only answer I could think of was Planet Ten, and if he was a Lectroid odds are he was a Red Lectroid, so I steered clear.

What's the phrase for forgetting the phrase "L'esprit de l'escalier"?

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Hat experiment: qualified success or interesting failure?

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

I’m excited that my knitting skills have progressed to the point that I could make up this pattern on the fly and have it not be terrible.

Dear driver of the white Infinity coupe

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 05:17:00 +0000

EDITED: Removed for dumb.

A new series: BMWs with traffic tickets

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Hopefully this will be a very frequent feature on the blog.

what the future looks like

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:00:00 +0000

I love this advertisement for its attempt to illustrate what the future looks like.

A discouraging documentation

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 04:00:00 +0000

EDITED: Content removed because bad.

Why data modeling is relevant to your interests

Sat, 27 Dec 2014 20:24:00 +0000

You interact with data models all day long. Most of the things you do on the internet, certainly anything transactional like buying something or making a reservation or taking a survey, involves a database-backed website.

with respect and compassion

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:47:00 +0000

If I had a professional baseball career as a closer, I think I would like to be known as “the Shochet”.

Employer of Choice

Tue, 09 Dec 2014 19:49:00 +0000

My work phone is being upgraded from a BlackBerry 9360 (here’s a 2011 press release about it) to an iPhone.

Some of the best things I read on the internet in 2014

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 20:26:00 +0000

Here are a few of the best or most influential of the thousands of articles I read on the internet this year:

Why don't programmers listen? Or, why are users insane?

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:03:00 +0000

EDITED: removed post because who cares.

Against hidden passwords and masked fields on web forms

Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:58:00 +0000

I hate this. This is bad design. I’m typing my Social Security Number into a site and it’s masked.

When simple programming tasks become epic trials simply because you don't know what you're doing

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 07:08:00 +0000

EDITED to remove post because who cares.

Hat 38 is done

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 01:01:00 +0000

Thanks to the bizarrely warm summer here in San Francisco, not too many heavy wools hats have been warranted.

Air travel means more hats

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 17:41:00 +0000

Finally sewed up the equilateral triangle hat: And made a new hat.

Urban hiking team selfie

Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:16:00 +0000

In the wilds of the Berkeley Hills steps.

Everything is Terrible: BlueMaestro edition

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 01:03:00 +0000

(See update at bottom for better news.) After the temperature in the office started fluctuating mysteriously, I impulsively bought the Blue Maestro Tempo Bluetooth thermometer.

Do you ever get the feeling you are being watched?

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:54:00 +0000

Kona apparently doesn’t get the feeling she is being watched.

Finite State Machine for newborns

Sun, 06 Jul 2014 18:03:00 +0000

Based on observation, here’s the principal FSM for parenting a first-born infant:

Deploying my new web site: One step forward, six seconds back.

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 17:07:00 +0000

I finished setting up an Industrial-Strength Django website on my current favorite hosting site, Digital Ocean, and said what the heck, let’s go ahead and make it the real aufrecht.

WTF is Middleware, or, "... the full complexities of the problem ...", or, why knowing "HTML" is not enough to build websites

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 04:39:00 +0000

EDITED: Removed because who cares.

A baseball score and my reaction

Wed, 28 May 2014 04:40:00 +0000

Good job Red Birds!

Web programming is mostly server administration

Sat, 24 May 2014 04:30:00 +0000

EDITED: Removed because who cares.

Guess what? Another hat.

Mon, 19 May 2014 18:10:00 +0000

Hat #36. For some reason this pattern never totally stuck in my head, so I was always going back to my little slip of paper, and when I did think I mastered it, I screwed up one of the cabling rows (don't look too closely at the top third).

Daily affirmations for a teleworker

Fri, 16 May 2014 17:13:00 +0000

My passcode will be confirmed. I will not be the only caller.

Another upgrade to the SSWF desk: Third Monitor

Thu, 08 May 2014 16:19:00 +0000

Despite have two large monitors on the desk, I often want even more display.

An addition to the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot desk

Tue, 29 Apr 2014 02:36:00 +0000

Now with LED Lightbulb Functionality. Unfortunately, heat-gun glue is not Enterprise-grade, so still some room for improvement.

Another day, another hat

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 01:48:00 +0000

Hat #35. For an adult, not a baby. I got on an airplane and picked up the knitting bag and found the pattern had gone missing.

A Puig Triptych

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:24:00 +0000

Leading off the top of the second, Montero hits the ball into the right field corner and tries for two.

The design challenges and failures of the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot Desk

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 23:07:00 +0000

This is Part 3 in a series about my Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot desk.

Finished the tiny blue hat

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:50:00 +0000

The white thing on top is technically a Primrose, or at least part of one.

Are you going to drop that food on the floor?

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 21:50:00 +0000

How to build the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot Desk

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 23:05:00 +0000

This is Part 2 of a series of articles about the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot Desk, how to build it.

A small hat (#32)

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 01:13:00 +0000

I like the look of this yarn (Madeline Tosh, wool/silk), but it knits more loosely than I want.

Hat #30. Manos: Ribs of Leaves.

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 18:23:00 +0000

It’s nice to get a new pattern down to the point that you can do it fairly automatically.

Hat 29: Ribbed Leaves

Sun, 16 Feb 2014 18:50:00 +0000

This came out almost exactly as I'd intended, and the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Where is the gene for corgiousness?

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:39:00 +0000

This article (mostly about Cesar Millan’s image rehab) says that

Even more name MADness

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:12:00 +0000

We have been looking (previously, previouslier) for names that are both Timeless and Goldilocks, meaning neither too popular nor too rare.

Digging more broadly for Timeless, Goldilocks names: MADness

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:39:00 +0000

In my initial search for Timeless, Goldilocks names, I defined Timeless as "

What is a Goldilocks, Timeless name?

Sun, 02 Feb 2014 22:10:00 +0000

Baby Names Since moving to San Francisco a few years ago, seven of our friends in the Bay Area have given birth.

What do you want?

Sat, 11 Jan 2014 01:07:00 +0000

Something else that isn't a hat: a Counterweight Cozy

Thu, 09 Jan 2014 01:12:00 +0000

My original plan for the desk was that the counterweight for the monitors would be a flowerpot.

Emperor Mollusk Versus The Sinister Brain

Mon, 23 Dec 2013 04:06:00 +0000

I wanted to like this book as much as “Soon I Will Be Invincible.

Debt

Mon, 23 Dec 2013 03:53:00 +0000

“BUT MOST PEOPLE ARE RATHER STUPID AND WASTE THEIR LIVES.

What do you do when the food has been eaten?

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 22:22:00 +0000

A sock/visual pun

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 01:08:00 +0000

This sock is for Aaron. I used metal #6 circular needles in magic loop mode with The Fibre Company’s Organik (70% merino, 15% baby alpaca, 15% silk), which recommends #8 needles.

What to wear (hat edition)

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 00:50:00 +0000

After the lack of Championship baseball games, probably the biggest problem with the off-season is that I don't know which hat to wear when I go out.

The Basics of the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot desk

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:07:00 +0000

This is Part 1 of a series about the Sit/Stand/Walk/Flowerpot desk, why I built it.

Who wants to see some hats?

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 23:20:00 +0000

My first three hats. All Karabella Aurora 8, on #8 needles, I think 72 or 80 stitches cast on, simple 2x2 ribbing, about 35 rows.

You can set your watch by it

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 03:47:00 +0000

EDITED: Removed because who cares.

We won today

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:57:00 +0000

Actually, we didn’t. We didn’t even play today. In the last week, both the Dodgers and the Tigers, my baseball teams by birth and marriage, were eliminated four games to two from their respective league championship playoffs.

Prerequisite for a dream

Sun, 13 Oct 2013 19:48:00 +0000

I took aufrecht.org down a few years ago because I was paying too much to host it, it was running on a niche technology called OpenACS, and I didn’t have free the months I feared it would take to move it, upgrade it, port it, etc.

Why I am a Project Manager instead of a programmer

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:06:12 -0700

www.federaltimes.comPart 1 But attitude. You either have it, or you don’t.

A cold, uncaring universe

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:10:37 -0700

You ever have one of those episodes where it becomes infinitely clear that the universe is out to get you, even though at the same time you understand that the universe doesn’t care about or even notice you?

Aaaaauuuuggghh!

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:03:10 -0700

www.whittierdailynews.com Page not found – Whittier Daily News (linkrot) On top of everything else that’s gone wrong with the Dodgers lately (the de-cromulating of almost all the young stars; the owners’ divorce and the thereby revealed sordid details of their plan to suck the team dry; the psychic healer on team payroll), there’s going to be a monster truck event at Dodger Stadium.

A ray of hope

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:29:36 -0700

news.yahoo.com Recently I’ve gotten into the habit of reading the comments to Yahoo news stories.

Kona's Country Club 45-47

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:12:23 -0700

Which countries? Answer. Answer. Answer.

Debranding baseball stadiums

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 14:45:23 -0700

I've long been in the habit of debranding professional sports stadiums in my head and when I talk about them.

We miss you, David Foster Wallace

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:54:20 -0700

The following sentence appeared in an article about tennis in today’s New York Times, written by Michael Kimmelman.

Escalator money

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:34:56 -0700

I mentioned previously how many of the escalators in the DC Metro are often broken, turning them into uncomfortable staircases.

What conversation are we having?

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:20:17 -0700

I was heading in to work on my usual route, southbound on 19th Street.

Damned WMATA

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

EDITED: This was a long and reasonably well-supported and vaguely interesting (to me) post about the DC Subway, morphing into a rant about how WMATA has been mismanaged for decades and, in particular, should stop killing its own workers.

You don't own your data

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:26:21 -0700

[EDITED to remove personal details] … I decided to try a new new dentist for my followup.

European Union Embassies' Open House Day (and Kona's Country Club 19-22)

Sun, 09 May 2010 13:45:41 -0700

All of the EU embassies in DC had an open house yesterday.

Why atheletes take steroids

Sat, 01 May 2010 15:28:34 -0700

MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy GamesDodger center fielder Matt Kemp has had a poor April, coming after a year when some measures valued him in the top ten in the game.

Work

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:36:55 -0700

trueslant.com (linkrot: HTTPConnectionPool(host=‘trues)David Brooks: Yes. I was going to say that for the first time in human history, rich people work longer hours than middle class or poor people.

Yahoo News and Stockholm Syndrome

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:30:51 -0700

I don’t know why, but my default action at any web browser is to go to the Yahoo front page.

A day in the life

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:00:24 -0700

Kona and I made another youtube.

Dictates from on high

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:10:07 -0700

So. How do I feel being a tiny cog in a giant machine?

Business Process Modeling notes

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:00:25 -0700

Here are my notes on the business process modeling training I attended the other week, which may be of interest to people who … model business processes?

We Make Great Americans Great Again

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:47:43 -0700

Ediface Complex

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:34:36 -0700

In the last week and a half, I started a new job; took the civil servant oath [affirmation]; filled out the Declaration for Federal Employment (Optional Form 306), Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9), Statement of Prior Federal Service (Standard Form 144), Designation of Beneficiary (SF 1152), Education Data Update Form (Attachment 6 to FPM Ltr 298-42), Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (Buyout) Certification Form, Self-Identification of Handicap (SF 256), Ethnicity and Race Identification (SF 181), Person to Contact in Case of Emergency (OPM Form 2927) and many others; went to a lot of meetings and met many people whose names I probably won't remember for another month; looked at eight apartments; signed a one-year lease, moved in, unloaded a storage unit, made extra copies of the keys, waited hours for the cable guy; mostly reassembled my bicycle; looked for and failed to find four critical retaining pins; sent in for Kona's new dog license; three times went looking for the new dog park in the wrong direction; twice went by the brand-new dog park when it was closed; given keys to a friend of a friend of a friend as part of the backup to the backup to get Kona taken care of during my first federal employee travel next week (Georgia, 3 days, business modeling training and meeting the technical counterparts to my Group); walked by the White House five or six times but only been able to see it through the trees once; and accidentally stumbled upon the Treasury.

Establishing priority

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:36:52 -0700

I can’t believe nobody’s thought of it already, but just in case, I want to get down in writing my invention of the term ex²pos to refer to the current Washington Nationals, previously the Montreal Expos.

A dog's life

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:25:59 -0700

I've been driving a borrowed Miata around Los Angeles the last few days.

Well, we know who _isn't_ a trekkie

Fri, 08 May 2009 17:49:54 -0700

www.newsweek.comPresident Obama has asked for a private screening of the new Star Trek movie, Politico reports.

uhhh - something's not right about that ...

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:33:40 -0700

www.peoplespresscollective.orgThe Peoples [sic] Press Collective posted a flyer to guide participants at the Tea Party Rallies (via TPM).

Why RMS gets on people's nerves even when they agree with him

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:44:18 -0700

The JavaScript TrapRichard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation make a very good point, that if you browse to something like Google Office, it downloads a proprietary program onto your computer, so that even though you may be using only free software on your computer (e.

A gross proposal

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:54:24 -0700

The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan.

Veterans day

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:18:18 -0700

I’m aware of three candidates for most righteous, furious, funny political cartoonist.

Web 2.0 panel at the Commonwealth Club

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:55:07 -0700

Moderator Amy Shuen, author of "Web 2.0". Opening question to panel: How many of you are in Web 2.

Enemies

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:21:11 -0700

Kona has several well-defined enemies: the cover monster, who lurks under comforters, behind blankets, and within pillows, and who must be repeatedly defeated via combinations of leaping, worrying with the teeth, and biting until dry cotton-mouth overwhelms.

Why I'm not especially optimistic about PMI

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:44:32 -0700

PMI is the Project Management Institute, the biggest and oldest institution in my profession.

What airplane is that? now for sale as a poster

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:25:53 -0700

EDITED to remove post because who cares

East to California

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:28:47 -0700

After almost exactly a year, I was headed back to the United States.

A saga of broken toys

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:53:47 -0700

Warning: nothing but materialism in this post. At the beginning of the second semester, after relocating to an apartment about two miles from school, I tried to work out a plan for walking to school instead of taking the bus.

Valedictory dinner, and discrimination

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:48:09 -0700

Yesterday we took the capstone exam concluding the MPA program, and tonight was the valedictory dinner, where we got to walk across the stage and get “memento” plaques.

Data anomalies

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:30:37 -0700

A friend working in the medical data analysis business explained to me that nobody every has diastolic blood pressure of 89, 90, or 91.

Ambassador Herbold explains the US election

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:19:12 -0700

Ambassador Patricia Herbold, former mayor, chair of the King County (Seattle) Republican Party, etc, etc, (her husband is, or was, an adjunct professor at LKYSPP, although there was no sign of him this last year ) spoke at the National Library about the US election.

Data Ink

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:55:05 -0700

One of Tufte's key ideas is data ink: most of the ink should embody data, not other things.

Africa and Rwanda— From Crisis to Socioeconomic Development by His Excellency Paul Kagame (President of the Republic of Rwanda)

Sat, 24 May 2008 20:51:26 -0700

www.spp.nus.edu.sg (linkrot: HTTPConnectionPool(host=‘www.s) Paul Kagame spoke at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore to a crowd of students, diplomats, and reporters.

Seminar— Winning the Oil Endgame

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:04:19 -0700

Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute, Inc, on “Winning the Oil Endgame”.

A mystery cheese, and other pictures,

Thu, 15 May 2008 04:12:58 -0700

Cheese is almost all flown in from Australia or further, and it’s not cheap, ranging from S$20 to S$60 per kilo (S$10/kg is about as US$3/lb).

Death, Taxes, and Trade Group Spokespeople

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:48:12 -0700

These three things are certain: death, taxes, and that trade group spokespeople will defend their product in the face of all logic, complain that they are unfairly maligned, and point out the desirability of their product.

What about the rest of Wikipedia?

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:17:40 -0700

www.nybooks.com 403 Forbidden (linkrot: 403: Forbidden)Nicholson Baker uses a review of a book about Wikipedia to rhapsodize about it and discuss his own role as a defender of articles facing deletion.

US House of Representatives not completely useless

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:30:49 -0700

EDITED: Post removed because who cares.

What plane is that?

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:41:21 -0700

aufrecht.org 404 Page not found | aufrecht.org (linkrot)Living for two years along the flight pattern of San Diego’s N.

Global Issues Week 8 Reading Notes

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:15:03 -0700

Christopher McCrudden and Stuart G. Gross, “WTO Government Procurement Rules and the Local Dynamics of Procurement Policies: A Malaysian Case Study,” The European Journal of International Law 17, 1 (2006), pp.

Taiwan and China

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:34:20 -0700

Last July, when our class was welcomed by the dean, we were all asked to stand up by country.

Wikileaks— US Military equipment in Iraq

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:42:23 -0700

US Military Equipment in Iraq (2007) - WikiLeaksWikileaks.org is once again directly accessible.

A very awesome thing

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:28:01 -0700

www.shigabooks.com 404 Not Found (linkrot) It’s a cop action/procedural story, like 24 or CSI or something.

Denmark is the happiest place on Earth?

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:47:15 -0700

Dani Rodrik’s weblog: Poor and happy? My background knowledge of happiness used to be that research shows there’s no strong connection between happiness and wealth, that even dirt-poor people were statistically as happy as anybody else, and this surprising information because my own conventional wisdom.

Urban Transport Policy Week 2 Reading Notes

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:23:28 -0700

As a useful introduction to some of the issues in this module please take a look at an on-line educational video about urban transport problems in Asian cities (there are visuals from various places in the region).

Winter Semester 2007-08 Shopping Week— Tuesday afternoon

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:34:33 -0700

PP 5263: Global Issues and Institutions Classroom is packed for shopping week.

Agility trials at Bishan Park

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:27:17 -0700

aufrecht.org 404 Page not found | aufrecht.org (linkrot) Kona and I went to Bishan Park to watch the 1st USDAA International Dog Agility Sanctioned Trials 2008 .

Exam culture

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:59:11 -0700

How strong is exam culture in Singapore? Our first semester grades were available online (or by SMS!

You learn something every day

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:56:58 -0700

I grew up in Alaska, so I am not unfamiliar with the moose.

Economics class notes for week 13

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:36:19 -0700

Final class of the semester, intended to show links between macro and micro-economics.

What goes around ...?

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:16:50 -0700

Conservative Authors Sue Regnery Publishing Over Royalties - The New York TimesAs much schadenfreude as I get from this story of conservative authors suing the ultra-right-wing Regnery press, what prompted me to post is the quote below.

EAI Special Seminar—Professor Moon Chung-In

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:36:35 -0700

Professor Moon Chung-In, Korea’s Ambassador for International Security Affairs, gives a seminar on the topic of the Korean summits.

Dean's talk in Negotiation Class

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:49:09 -0700

Dean Kishore Mahbubani spoke for an hour in our Negotiation class.

Dean's speech on Principles of Governance in Singapore

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:57:03 -0700

“I” refers to the dean unless otherwise noted. There is a conception that development is very difficult, we don't know why it succeeds or fails.

Economics Week 8 class notes

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:34:43 -0700

Liveblogging my econ class just for the heck of it.

Dean's speech

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:29:21 -0700

Liveblogging. The single point I want you to take away: Nobody knows what's going on in globalization.

Doctor denies God credit for medical science

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:27:01 -0700

Kevin Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills' tight end would walk again -- contrary to the grim prognosis given a day before.

US school reform as a complicated issue

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:33:00 -0700

EDITED: Post removed because who cares.

Reading Notes

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 01:57:22 -0700

Adams, Macroeconomics For Business and Society, Chapter 6 Three kinds of economies in the Cold War era: mixed market/socialist, command, and third-world.

Exxon lecture notes

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:15:37 -0700

On Friday I attended a presentation by Sherri K. Stuewer, Vice President of Safety, Health and Environment for Exxon, on "

Alternate Maslow Hierarchy

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:31:10 -0700

I’m in Singapore, having enjoyed a day of orientation stuff (speeches, etc), and now working on satisfying a peculiar variant of Maslow’s Hierarchy temporary housing, bank account, mobile phone, plug adapter, etc.

Evildoers beware

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:16:27 -0700

I was walking the dog in downtown Seattle when a man passing by pumped his raised fist as me and said, “Spoon!

A story in pictures

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:43:39 -0700

aufrecht.org 404 Page not found | aufrecht.org (linkrot) 11,000 words

A horrifying thought

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:52:01 -0700

The Republicans and Democrats have both already had presidential candidate debates.

Dual monitors with separate video cards in Linux

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:00:42 -0700

I previously used a pair of Dell 20" monitors on my desktop.

Yay Ecuador

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:16:28 -0700

news.yahoo.comToday’s good news: President-elect Rafael Correa appointed seven women to his Cabinet on Wednesday, including Ecuador's first female defense minister, saying he wanted to promote gender equality in his South American nation.

Very short stories

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 01:09:23 -0700

Very Short Stories | WIREDFrom Wired Magazine: We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("

A look at the Project Management Professional Credential, Part 2

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:21:02 -0700

The tagline of PMI’s magazine, PM Network, is “Making project management indispensible for business results.

You can probably make up your own joke after reading this

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 22:51:22 -0700

EDITED: Blog post removed because who cares.

Airport security

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:36:35 -0700

Last Week’s Terrorism Arrests - Schneier on Security Bruce Schneier on the new airport rules:

Women and Pepsi

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:37:40 -0700

Today’s good news, a twofer of adjacent articles in the Times.

USA

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:24:32 -0700

I’m sure I’m not the first to point this out, but the USA, not Germany, is the third-best football team in the world.

Dzongkha Linux released

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 19:15:39 -0700

www.teluguportal.net הדף לא נמצא - רכב | מימון לרכב חדש (linkrot)If you are following the story of Dzongkha localization in Bhutan (as previously mentioned here; the short form is that Bhutan paid $500k to get a version of Windows in their native language, but the effort was complicated by a suspect vendor and, apparently, an effort (based on incorrect linguistic assumptions) by Microsoft to be sensitive to Chinese suppression of Tibetan culture), then you may be pleased to learn that Bhutan last month released a localized version of Debian Linux.

A little logic puzzle

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:32:25 -0700

Here’s a little logic puzzle for you. Four football teams form a set.

Virgin Mobile prepaid cell phone—as annoying as you might expect

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 12:11:24 -0700

EDITED: Removed because who cares.

A Non-Technical Introduction to Open Source

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:06:48 -0700

aufrecht.org 404 Page not found | aufrecht.org (linkrot) I’ll be presenting a workshop next week at the 2006 AIRS I&R Training and Education Conference.

Why baseball is important

Thu, 04 May 2006 12:14:33 -0700

My theory of baseball and life: *Life consists, in large part, of random or semi-random events *Humans are very bad at understanding randomness, and so frequently misunderstand life *Baseball consists, in large part, of random or semi-random events in a controlled environment *Understanding baseball is thus a useful step towards understanding life

Debian upgrade to xorg 7 breaks fonts

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:39:25 -0700

If you use debian sid, and you upgraded to xserver-xorg 7.

A perfect morning

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:13:43 -0700

This is the kind of news I like to wake up to: The Dodgers win big and Cardinals fans get their hearts broken.

Democrats only 95% spineless

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:56:02 -0700

www.rollcall.com Roll Call - Covering Capitol Hill Since 1955 (linkrot)Today’s good news:

Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 14:36:49 -0700

Today’s good news: 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying “millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.

Dual monitors in portrait mode in linux (2400x1600)

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:27:14 -0700

As of version 1.0-8178, the NVidia driver for linux finally supports rotation.

US Loses argument with Venezuala, according to Godwin's Law

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:49:04 -0700

news.yahoo.comStrictly speaking, Godwin’s Law is, “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

Unintended consequences of meteor impact suppression

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:44:26 -0700

The law of unintended consequences states that changes to complex systems will produce results other than those intended.

Waxman yields to good policy

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:23:12 -0700

news.yahoo.comThe best route for mass transit in Los Angeles is down Wilshire Boulevard.

Women in science, engineering— U-M makes ADVANCE permanent

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 00:10:03 -0700

University of Michigan News ServiceToday’s good news: A University of Michigan project to bridge the gender gap in science and engineering has been so successful that officials have decided to make it permanent with funding commitments approved through at least 2011.

Wisconson electronic voting gets safer

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 21:37:02 -0700

www.madison.com News | madison.com (linkrot)Today’s good news: A new law in Wisconson .

Does this prove that security is hard or that Ted Stevens is stupid?

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 19:15:59 -0700

EDITED: Blog entry removed because who cares.

Daily good news

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 19:50:06 -0700

EDITED: This was a post about: In Loss for G.O.P., House Rejects Spending Plan - The New York Times.

Universal health insurance for Illinois children

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:49:19 -0700

www.chicagotribune.com Page Not Found - Chicago Tribune (linkrot)I’ve decided to feature one piece of good news every morning.

Dover pulls ahead of Kansas

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:43:37 -0700

Dover school board booted out in elections • The Register

After all, she's under oath ...

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:25:41 -0700

www.aclupa.org Page Not Found :: ACLU of Pennsylvania (linkrot) A lawyer for the defense is cross-examining witness Barbara Forrest, who has testified about the history of intelligent design.

When politicians are honest

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 13:37:07 -0700

Forthright civil servant to be PM’s security adviser | Politics | The GuardianSir Richard Mottram … is to take on the key job of the prime minister’s top security and intelligence adviser.

Does it really make sense to base a whole law-enforcement philosophy on the rules of an athletic contest?

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:37:59 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403) But what I really want to know is: Why is it always three strikes and you're out?

Uri Avnery on the removal of Gaza settlements

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 20:13:13 -0700

This Was The Day - Gush Shalom - Israeli Peace BlocAugust 18th, 2005 - a milestone in the history of the State of Israel.

which one is the inmate again?

Thu, 26 May 2005 12:00:14 -0700

The Open Source HereticLarry McVoy is a software developer who has had a mixed relationship with the open-source world.

A perfect factoid

Thu, 19 May 2005 16:34:21 -0700

In 2004, London was easily the world’s commercial passenger capital. New York, Tokyo, and Chicago tied for second.

working on a new scorecard

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 01:08:23 -0700

I’ve made several custom baseball scorecards, since the ones that come in programs are quite inadequate.

Economic Analysis of baseball contracts

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:21:51 -0700

Baseball Prospectus (linkrot) Baseball Prospectus breaks down the 47 free agent contracts signed over the 2004-2005 winter.

Accurate translation

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:38:25 -0700

I understand, up to a point - Charlemagne ... informal guides to what the French or the English really mean, when they are speaking their mother tongues, have been drawn up by other nationalities.

Uniting against a common enemy ... too late

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 15:05:32 -0700

instapundit.comAfter vehemently disagreeing with just about everything I’ve read on Instapundit, typically because it was disingenuous partisan material, I was very happily suprised to be pointed (from the leftist Talking Points Memo’s Special Bankruptcy Bill Edition) to an Instapundit post I completely agree with:

A technology tip

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:22:05 -0700

Don’t put your iPod shuffle in shuffle mode when listening to murder mysteries.

A few good rides

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 17:05:21 -0700

I’ve taken my new bicycle out for two rides now, both out to the beach.

Escalation

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 17:23:25 -0700

The following flyer, laid at the front door of my and every other apartment in the building, is the latest and most extreme in a series:

A user interface worth checking out

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 17:32:50 -0700

Baby Names Popularity - NameVoyager: Baby Name Wizard Graph of Most Popular Baby Names | Baby Name Wizard

World Championships

Sat, 15 Jan 2005 21:22:36 -0700

www.exploratorium.edu Page Not Found | Exploratorium (linkrot)I just saw an amazing competition.

Data Dictionary Updated

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 22:13:21 -0700

EDITED: I have no idea why this was ever a blog post.

Agenda for meetings, Thursday, 6 Jan

Wed, 05 Jan 2005 15:15:29 -0700

11:30 am to 1 pm: Maribel/Marianne: Review INFOSEEK proposals 1 pm to on Georgia/Greg/Joel: Review 211taxonomy.

DC strikes out?

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 15:33:12 -0700

MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games Beaming like a kid who just met his favorite sports star, Mayor Anthony A.

Disclaimer stickers for science books

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 17:27:52 -0700

www.swarthmore.edu 403 Forbidden (linkrot: 403: Forbidden) I have a bunch of science text books without warning labels.

Dual Monitors on Debian Linux with Nvidia N200

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:11:50 -0700

Lars turned me on to the benefits of a dual-monitor desktop (and the Kinesis keyboard) in the Collaboraid office, and when I set up my home office I wanted the same.

Yay for Washington, D.C.

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 18:21:14 -0700

EDITED: Blog entry removed because who cares.

Why do they hate our freedom?

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 20:52:21 -0700

Loading…[Comedian David Cross] even seemed to have a better handle on the mindset of Osama bin Laden than the Bush administration: “If the terrorists hated freedom, then the Netherlands would be fucking dust.

Why defending evolution is important

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 02:38:25 -0700

www.pacificviews.org 404 Not Found (linkrot)Here’s an interesting argument I hadn’t heard before for why it’s important to defend the theory of evolution (in addition to the part about it being true):

What's the name of the project going to be?

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 13:42:25 -0700

EDITED to remove post because who cares.

Every time it rains it rains/pennies from heaven

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 23:18:49 -0700

The Original American Traveler Apology ShirtI checked my American Apology Shirt storefront and discovered that I’ve sold about 450 shirts since the election, easily putting me over the 3000 mark.

Election Night Cheat Sheet

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:30:01 -0700

contrapositiveAn hour by hour guide to the most tense election in my lifetime.

Wouldn't that look weird to a Martian?

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:38:47 -0700

For the whole of 2004, [Drewry Shipping Consultants] estimates that the number of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) leaving Asia bound for America’s west coat could top 11m, while the number going the other way may be only 4.

uh [pause 2.116]

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 19:26:24 -0700

EDITED: Post removed because who cares.

Why I have no desire to read The Da Vinci Code

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:22:47 -0700

Language Log: The Dan Brown code Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.

A great interview with Takeshi Kitano

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 18:38:39 -0700

www.theonionavclub.com It was really tough to make the Japanese public perceive me as a serious actor or director.

Vacating

Tue, 03 Aug 2004 22:35:37 -0700

EDITED: removed post because who cares.

What must it be like to be wrong about everything?

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 19:40:11 -0700

Page not found | LessigOn the nascent cable industry, in 1974 “[Cable will become] a huge parasite in the marketplace, feeding and fattening itself off of local television stations and copyright owners of copyrighted material.

Democratic primary in a nutshell

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 01:06:17 -0700

Remember when you were in high school, and you really wanted to go to the prom with a gorgeous girl, but you couldn’t ask her because she was really popular and already had served two terms as president of the United States, so you wound up asking John Kerry?

Very Uncool

Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:26:56 -0700

Alternatives to Orwell

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:54:34 -0700

www.starthrower.com 404 Not Found – Star Thrower Distribution (linkrot) Orwell’s Newspeak destroyed language as a means of independent thought by eliminating many words from the vocabulary and strictly limiting the meanings of other words:

Unspeakable Propositions

Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:08:14 -0700

Technopolis: June 2004A truly free, open society would be one in which the following propositions offered by John McMurtry would be widely debated.

Every single decapitation bombing failed

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 13:49:28 -0700

An unclassified Air Force report issued in April 2003 categorized 50 attacks from March 19 to April 18 as having been time-sensitive strikes on Iraqi leaders.

Tangible proof of modern America's moral decay

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 14:55:12 -0700

Friends, Friends With Benefits and the Benefits of the Local Mall - The New York TimesThe two got to only first base (kissing), which is about the only base that anyone can agree on anymore.

Dubya's mis-speakin' again

Wed, 02 Jun 2004 21:10:51 -0700

Content removed because both the content and writing are embarassingly bad.

Uh-oh. Bill O'Reilly read Mallick's column, and he's frothing!

Wed, 05 May 2004 23:57:36 -0700

www.globeandmail.com 404 - Page Not Found (linkrot)…excerpts from Heather Mallick’s column in The Globe and Mail, Saturday May 1, 2004.

Justice is served for corrupt Air Force procurer

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 11:53:34 -0700

story.news.yahoo.comFinally, a bit of justice is served in the Boeing 767 Air Force scandal.

Advice for writing

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 07:43:19 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403) Finally some good holistic advice on how to actually go about the process of writing:

What?

Sun, 11 Apr 2004 17:20:49 -0700

The closing titles for Two for the Road are very short, and I was seated near the door, and the audience was all film lovers and mostly old people, so they tended to stay for the credits, and so, by rare happenstance, I was almost the first out of the theater.

A new mantra

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 15:58:31 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403) "Then would you read a Sustaining Book that would help comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?

Unusual consulting

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 18:17:40 -0700

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:04:22 -0400 (AST) From: Nathan To: Joel Aufrecht Subject: Re: Greetings

Why we have malls in American

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 14:26:38 -0700

Reporting | The New YorkerWhat Congress did in 1954, in an attempt to stimulate investment in manufacturing, was to “accelerate” the depreciation process for new construction.

Well spoken

Tue, 09 Mar 2004 13:34:22 -0700

selfpromotion.com 404 Not Found (linkrot)My advice is simple. Death to Flash.

Vole Love

Mon, 16 Feb 2004 14:38:33 -0700

I get a kick out of you - The science of loveThe second surprise was that the brain areas active in love are different from the areas activated in other emotional states, such as fear and anger.

A Tragedy of Errors

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:17:31 -0700

www.thenation.com Page not found | The Nation (linkrot) David Brooks recently claimed in the New York Times that only "

Essence of Selfish Gene Theory

Sat, 07 Feb 2004 02:53:36 -0700

Dawkins has spent much of his career defending a particular view of Darwinism.

Why classrooms are generally bad places to learn

Mon, 02 Feb 2004 12:21:17 -0700

www.adlnet.org Page not found - Best Spy Apps (linkrot)I’m digging through bits of SCORM.

A surprise every day

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 14:20:06 -0700

Our usual Danish teacher, Bent, was sick today, so we were split into half and merged with regular level 1 classes.

Actually I may have exaggerated the problems with my new Danish Class

Sat, 24 Jan 2004 04:14:09 -0700

Okay, I went to class both times this week and it was fine.

A checklist for optimists

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 12:31:53 -0700

Freud, finance and folly Mr Kahneman's work points to three types of over-confidence.

A Dread of Class is a Bad Sign

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:02:54 -0700

I’m sad to report that my Danish learning process has taken a turn for the worse.

What non-crazy government looks like

Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:14:14 -0700

Workplace: Bringing jobseekers and employers together with a smile – The PostI live a few blocks away from Christiania, which is a sort of hippie commune founded about thirty years ago when some, well, hippies, occupied an abandoned naval installation and declared independence from the EU, or EEC I guess, or Denmark, or something.

US Casualty rate in Gulf War I

Thu, 15 Jan 2004 18:08:06 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403)During 1990 and 1991, some 696,778 individuals served in the Persian Gulf as elements of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

Learning Danish, Part 1

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 16:53:03 -0700

The Danish claim (brag?) that their language is especially difficult for outsiders to master.

Random catchup notes

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 12:51:40 -0700

It’s really hard to get good orange juice in Copenhagen. It’s not that it’s rare, it’s just that there’s lots of really awful orange juice and the packaging is very similar.

Good news

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:46:20 -0700

Followup on the story I linked previously, about the Air Force/Boeing joint venture to swindle the American public.

Preventive war fought over a pretext

Sun, 23 Nov 2003 05:21:21 -0700

[Kennedy's] larger goal after that was to settle the Cold War, without either victory or defeat~~~~~a strategic vision laid out in JFKs commencement speech at American University on June 10, 1963.

How about some great news for a change?

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:45:03 -0700

Beginning July 1, 2005, [California] counties will not be able to purchase any machine that does not produce a paper trail.

Damned socialists

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 10:28:09 -0700

I mailed three boxes of my own stuff from Seattle to Copenhagen.

Where was this man four years ago, part 2

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 03:36:40 -0700

story.news.yahoo.com“In my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden,” Gore said.

Book Review— Secrets and Lies

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 00:59:20 -0700

I’ve been skimming Bruce Schneier’s book, Secrets and Lies, and finding it a bit disappointing.

Five more months until opening day

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 11:53:47 -0700

Tejada seems the most likely to get the biggest deal, what with his May 25, 1976 birth date courtesy of the Dominican Republic, where, as I'm sure you're all aware, means there's a significant chance that not only is Tejada not actually 27 today, but there is a fair chance that he doesn't even bat right-handed .

Haley Barbour clearly not racist; neither does the Republican party cater to the racist vote

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 06:39:12 -0700

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Editorial / Opinion / Op-ed / Barbour campaign shows GOP’s racist sidePresident Bush is scheduled this Saturday to make his second trip in seven weeks to Mississippi.

Food for thought re— 2nd Amendment

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 01:28:47 -0700

Washington Post commentary on the ongoing war on Iraq: ... a fundamental truth that seems too often to have eluded American political leaders since World War II: It's not the winner who typically decides when victory in a war has been achieved.

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 15:26:31 -0700

BlackBoxVoting.org A replacement set of votes was uploaded on the Diebold machines (then called Global Election Systems) in Volusia County about one hour after the original votes.

Some quality mainstream journalism

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 14:07:14 -0700

Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis - The Washington PostAfter plenty of bashing on Big Media for wretched reporting, I am happy to point to this fantastic article excoriating the Boeing tanker deal as pure pork in excruciating detail.

About state taxes

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 11:56:27 -0700

In New Mexico, poor families (those earning less than $13,000) pay 12.

Book Review—Reckoning with Risk, Gird Gigerenzer

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 02:40:21 -0700

Gerd Gigerenzer discusses risk and its applications in daily life, with examples from medicine, the O.

A perfect sentence

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 08:45:20 -0700

www.philly.com Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes - Philly.com (linkrot)Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he “didn’t want to see any stories” quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used.

Download or wear the Diebold voting machine memos

Wed, 22 Oct 2003 06:27:56 -0700

Why War? I am providing a mirror of the Diebold memos, internal email from Diebold revealing flaws and possible felonies in their electronic voting machines currently being used in 37 United States.

Copenhagen 7

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 01:05:29 -0700

aufrecht.org 404 Page not found | aufrecht.org (linkrot)A nice thing about Scandinavia: pictures and even advertisements of designed objects, such as furniture, feature the designer’s name.

The Modern software industry

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 02:25:05 -0700

The situation is made worse since there's so little effective mentoring in the industry from old-salts who are good at making a religion of the K.

Dennis Miller-like levels of hell

Thu, 16 Oct 2003 06:43:29 -0700

The first thing I had to sell was a service from US West.

Electrical Engineering problem

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 05:45:48 -0700

The bedroom in my apartment, which is in a hundred-year-old building, has some wiring issues.

Copenhagen 6

Wed, 08 Oct 2003 01:03:44 -0700

Since Fram’s flight was an hour before mine, my parents dropped us off at SEA-TAC airport very early by my schedule.

2003 Ig Nobel prize highlights

Mon, 06 Oct 2003 02:14:24 -0700

PHYSICS: Jack Harvey, John Culvenor, Warren Payne, Steve Cowley, Michael Lawrance, David Stuart, and Robyn Williams of Australia, for their irresistible report “An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces.

Copenhagen 5

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 05:42:16 -0700

My address for at least the next year: Joel Aufrecht Burmeistergade 1C 1.

Jerks

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 05:38:37 -0700

In the mid-1990s, the National Science Foundation privatized the internet. Various telecomunnications companies took over the actual moving of data, and by and large that’s gone well at the backbone level.

Stadium Pal. See the photo.

Thu, 02 Oct 2003 02:11:46 -0700

ESPN.com - Page2 - Sweetheart of the HoleESPN Page 2 article on the Raider Nation

Rush really is a big fat idiot

Thu, 02 Oct 2003 01:59:39 -0700

Rush just resigned from ESPN as a football commentator because of comments about Donovan McNabb.

Performance art by White House Spokesman, Episode 22

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 11:03:58 -0700

QUESTION: Has the President either asked Karl Rove to assure him that he had nothing to do with this; or did Karl Rove go to the President to assure him that he -- McCLELLAN: I don’t think he needs that.

Friedman see-saws back to sanity

Sat, 27 Sep 2003 09:32:28 -0700

Connect The Dots - The New York TimesA mere two weeks after a bizarre column about our enemy France, where I couldn’t tell if he was writing parody or straight prose, Friedman makes a very valid point with stunning clarity:

Upsetting things I've read in the newspaper

Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:05:04 -0700

EDITED: My writing removed because who cares. These two quotes in particular, both found on page A11 of the 17 Sep 2003 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I feel compelled to share with you.

Copenhagen 4

Tue, 09 Sep 2003 23:11:49 -0700

First, a random observation: If you want to know what life would be like in a world with unchallenged vampires, try borrowing a bicycle without running lights and then being told that the fine for being out at night without proper lights is DKK500 (about US$70).

Krugman— Bush = Napolean?

Mon, 08 Sep 2003 00:41:38 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403)After reading dozens of [Paul Krugman] columns you start to hunger for something more in-depth that might answer the central political problem of our era: With so much to get mad about, sitting in broad daylight, why hasn’t America risen in rage?

Al Franken could really grow on you

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 11:31:15 -0700

After watching National Review’s preppy editor Rich Lowry denounce the Democrats on C-SPAN for “sissifying” and “feminizing” politics, Franken calls him up and challenges him to a “Fight Club”-like mano a mano in his parking garage.

Not everyone in the US military leadership is insane like Rumsfeld.

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 11:13:49 -0700

[Seven factors that have historically led to the commission of war crimes:] (1) high friendly losses; (2) high turnover rate in the chain of command; (3) dehumanization of the adversary; (4) poorly trained or inexperienced troops; (5) the lack of a clearly defined adversary; (6) unclear orders; and (7) high frustration level among the troops.

How I Wasted a Weekend in Copenhagen, or, an Introduction to Digital Computers and the Programs that Make them Go, without Consideration to Where they might Go, or, Sometimes I try to do things And they just don't turn out the way I wanted to And I get real frustrated It's like I take my time And I try real hard And no matter what I do And no matter what I try It never works out It's like I concentrate on it real hard But it never works out

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 01:14:53 -0700

wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl Access forbidden! (linkrot: 403: Forbidden)A computer program is a set of explicit instructions for producing outgoing data as a result of incoming data.

Sing Sing Sing with a Sling

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 01:04:23 -0700

I went with Simon and Peter and Simon’s younger brother (who has a fundamental Simonescence such that he is easily mistaken for Simon even though he doesn’t actually look very identical) and Simon’s cute blonde friend from high school to the Copenhagen Jazz club to catch the Swing Slingers.

How to tell if you are camping

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 00:24:52 -0700

How to tell you are in a proper bathroom You are in a proper bathroom if .

Thank goodness there's an elegant method

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 09:21:55 -0700

ourworld.compuserve.com (linkrot: HTTPConnectionPool(host=‘ourwo)There’s an anecdote about Donald Knuth, the famous computer scientist who invented scalable fonts.

Maybe I've been naive but ...

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 01:04:19 -0700

A phrase I’ve been reading a lot, both in emails and in published work, is “I guess I’ve been naive but ….

Scott Adams' New Airline Idea

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 04:41:12 -0700

At Atheist Air, prior to boarding, passengers would be required to spout blasphemous remarks at a display of artifacts from all the major religions.

US foreign policy 1900-2003 in one sentence, or, Santayana said ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2003 00:03:37 -0700

The history of US foreign interventions in the last century is filled with stories in which the US first tried to build liberal institutions in this or that country, saw it was going to be either really tough or unsustainable, and then settled for dictators or autocrats who were thought could secure our interests for the time being.

Copenhagen, Part 2

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 05:13:15 -0700

Riding a strange bicycle, my frustration led me to enumerate all the things I like about my own bicycle.

Why the Gamecube failed

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 01:30:32 -0700

EDITED: Post removed because the quote was bad.

Black eye for the straight guy

Sun, 17 Aug 2003 11:23:40 -0700

Editorials & Opinion | Black eye for the straight guy | Seattle Times NewspaperIn the midst of the media cauldron boiling over about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, we find gems like this:

Gingrich— State Department to blame for Anti-Americanism

Sat, 16 Aug 2003 04:08:13 -0700

Story of “missing” ship getting curiouser still – Foreign PolicyNewt Gingrich continues to be contra-rational.

Copenhagen Travel Journal, Part 1

Tue, 12 Aug 2003 00:57:40 -0700

At the beginning of my China journal, sweltering in a turboprop on the runway, headed for Vancouver, I noted that I expected to continue sweating for months to come.

Where the hell was this speaker three years ago?

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 10:37:40 -0700

EDITED to remove post because who cares.

Libertarian Muslim thought

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 13:45:18 -0700

So that raises the question: What is usury? Usury is something that's analogous to overcharging of any kind.

Little robots in your pants

Wed, 06 Aug 2003 15:19:43 -0700

CNN.com - Little robots in your pants - Jan. 10, 2004 Dockers recently came out with a new brand of pants, the Go Khakis, which promise to keep your legs stain-free using revolutionary nanotechnology.

Painful computer humor

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 14:22:43 -0700

As soon as she walked through my door I knew her type: she was an argument waiting to happen.

Bush's Christianity

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 13:27:20 -0700

The kind of Christianity that pervades the religious right in this country divides the world between the saved and the damned, between God's people and Satan's people, between good and evil.

Saving the Net

Wed, 23 Jul 2003 10:37:34 -0700

Saving the Net | Linux JournalThere’s also a problem with conceiving broadcast service–especially the commercial variety–as a “marketplace.

The Dance of Love

Fri, 18 Jul 2003 08:29:15 -0700

There’s a certain ritual to press conferences. With professional obfuscator Ari Fleischer gone, it looks like the new guy is going to need some breaking in.

And on a personal note ...

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 15:13:04 -0700

It’s been a while since I posted a straight summary of what’s going on in my life; I’ve buried a few clues in other blog posts because that’s usually more entertaining, but those who skim the emails looking for more China journal entries about washing machine floods and gastroentological thrillers don’t always catch the details.

June Book Reviews

Mon, 07 Jul 2003 00:33:11 -0700

Mill, J.S. On Liberty I wasn’t especially impressed. He’s talking about freedom of action within a society; it’s basically a fat pamphlet on the concept that is more colloquially expressed, “your freedom to throw punches ends at the tip of my nose.

quote of the month—no, year

Tue, 24 Jun 2003 18:02:19 -0700

…from the latest issue of Radar magazine, p.26: “But before long, people came to suspect that the danger of SARS had been exaggerated by the media.

First Time In Fairbanks

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:23:33 -0700

I’ve lived in Alaska a total of 12 years plus a few summers; prior to last week I had never been to Fairbanks, Alaska’s 2nd largest city.

It's easier to go to war

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 16:41:55 -0700

“Fixing an agency management problem doesn’t make headlines or produce voter support.

SIFF Notes 2003 Part 5

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 16:28:24 -0700

I saw 52 movies and three shorts packages in 25 days, up slightly from 2001.

Thedeacon

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:17:36 -0700

"It's a total release of the id," he said one Thursday last month as he sat in a Japanese restaurant in Madison .

Civic boosterism

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 14:35:10 -0700

Tablet: Any chance of Kaiju Big Battel coming to Seattle? TKC: Yes, Seattle would be a fine city to protect from giant city crushing monsters.

Secrets of Casting

Mon, 09 Jun 2003 23:29:16 -0700

JUERGEN: I was surprised when I heard you were in Spy Games.

The impeachment isn't over

Sun, 08 Jun 2003 08:31:45 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403)In testimony before the Senate, Olson denied any involvement in the Project – but that testimony was later fully documented as false.

SIFF Notes 2003, Part 4

Sat, 07 Jun 2003 21:33:16 -0700

Running total for SIFF this year: 33 movies (including shorts packages as 1 movie per package); 2 implied castrations on screen; 2 directors talking about masturbation on stage.

Just not cricket

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 22:47:08 -0700

IMAGINE a business organised as follows. The number of firms is fixed.

SIFF Notes 2003, Part 3

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:12:58 -0700

A very lovely second Sunday of SIFFing. I inadvertantly stumbled into a nice rhythm for the day: first, “Shorts: The Hush” was a collection of short films without any dialog.

May Book Reviews

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 11:07:56 -0700

This month I read only books with cool titles. Daley, Brian.

Apology shirts now available

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 00:00:30 -0700

After much double-checking, the text for the t-shirt is done. Order up a few shirts before your next international trip.

SIFF Notes 2003, Part 2, or, What the Hell is Wrong with you People!?

Thu, 29 May 2003 00:44:59 -0700

Wherein the Author Vents his Spleen, Disgorges the contents of his Gallbladder, and Dispenses freely from various other Organs within the Abdominal Cavity.

SIFF Notes 2003, Part 1

Mon, 26 May 2003 22:25:21 -0700

Assorted notes that don’t add up to whole movie reviews:

Marketing 101

Sun, 25 May 2003 16:16:32 -0700

These are the lead paragraphs for two of BEA’s products. Can you tell which one is a java application server and which one is middleware for mainframe transaction-processing?

Nice pictures

Tue, 20 May 2003 19:49:39 -0700

I think this picture is brilliant. This, this, this, this, this, and this are also especially good.

From the confessions of Wu Faxian

Tue, 20 May 2003 08:25:11 -0700

... in the last three days the Central Committee in Beijing had been using a new secret code .

Ouch for the crab.

Sun, 18 May 2003 22:43:00 -0700

True, there is something chilling about the way she rips the gills out of softshell crabs while they're still alive, as she did on a recent show, murmuring instructions in that calm, deep voice of hers.

Harley-Davidson crummy by design

Sun, 18 May 2003 22:25:02 -0700

William Harley created the thumping staccato in 1907 when he opted to graft a second cylinder onto his one-cylinder engine design rather than whip up a true two-cylinder engine.

American Traveler International Apology Shirt

Sat, 17 May 2003 22:01:42 -0700

I need some translation help. I want to make a t-shirt for my upcoming travel to Europe,

Geekcorps Interview

Thu, 15 May 2003 17:10:16 -0700

O’Reilly Media - Technology and Business TrainingI recruited the first group we took to Ghana the way I would have recruited geeks for Tripod.

Biting the trusted hand ...

Thu, 15 May 2003 11:12:58 -0700

“Many of you already know that BEA has a long-standing relationship with Accenture.

Wolfowitz— It was necessary to subvert democracy in order to promote democracy

Thu, 15 May 2003 11:09:40 -0700

... the Bush administration, [Wolfowitz] said, was disappointed that the Turkish military did not play the strong leadership role on that issue [i.

Texas Democrats justified in fleeing the state to break quorum to stop redistricting

Thu, 15 May 2003 11:07:51 -0700

talkingpointsmemo.com The page you were looking for doesn’t exist (404) (linkrot)But doing a second redistricting for partisan reasons during one census cycle hasn’t been the norm since the 19th century.

Electronic Voting Machine vendors denigrate doubters

Thu, 15 May 2003 10:30:59 -0700

To Register Doubts, Press Here - The New York Times“When you’re dealing with computer scientists, they deal in a world of theoretics, and under that scenario anything is possible,” Ms.

Bug 52205— Tibet as country name

Wed, 14 May 2003 19:58:50 -0700

52205 – Tibet as country nameFrom the Konqueror (Linux/KDE web browser) bug system:

Having trouble leaving the country

Wed, 14 May 2003 19:24:20 -0700

I suppose this constitutes the first entry in my new travel journal.

The British are weird. Not like Texas-weird, but still weird.

Wed, 14 May 2003 12:24:12 -0700

Lord Renton: My Lords, will the Minister explain how it is that an inedible tinned food that lasted for ever and was supplied to those on active service can become an unsolicited e-mail, bearing in mind that some of us wish to be protected from having an e-mail?

More web gossip about airplanes

Tue, 13 May 2003 18:37:49 -0700

If this is true and the Iraqis had some success with airplanes in 1991, why didn’t they use any in 2003?

Die Hard and Top Gun have nothing on reality

Tue, 13 May 2003 18:09:41 -0700

So they made 47 Blackbirds, including variations and trainers and such.

Take off by 269 miles per hour or the tires explode

Tue, 13 May 2003 17:55:17 -0700

www.sr-71.org 404 Not Found (linkrot)The SR-71 flight manual is available online, mostly declassified.

This is the coolest Texas news I have ever heard

Mon, 12 May 2003 16:24:32 -0700

story.news.yahoo.com State troopers and the elite Texas Rangers were ordered to track down and bring in 59 Democratic lawmakers who brought the Texas House to a standstill Monday by going into hiding.

Late Night TV speaks

Mon, 12 May 2003 16:10:47 -0700

"New rumors that Saddam Hussein is planning to flee to a castle in Libya with 10 billion dollars.

Flirting, explained

Thu, 08 May 2003 23:27:20 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403)Around every romantic target, envision a series of concentric security zones; the outermost area is for store clerks and bankers; inside that is the area for same-sex friends and fathers; and inside that, I postulate, is a narrow band of flirtatious airspace that, were it possible, would be guarded by infrared sensors and dobermans.

The importance of virus protection on Linux

Mon, 05 May 2003 14:31:14 -0700

(From a Slashdot interview with Michael Robertson, founder of Lindows)

April Book Reviews

Thu, 01 May 2003 22:57:21 -0700

Priest, Dana. The Mission. 2003. Fly-on-the-wall reporting on the US military, in three different areas.

Defining Vision (a book review)

Thu, 01 May 2003 21:59:55 -0700

Brinkley, Joel. Defining Vision: The Battle for the Future of Television

cd text

Thu, 01 May 2003 00:19:49 -0700

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20 Terms Likely To Be Heard in House\par \par Wednesday Dec 16 1998 3:11 PM ET By The Associated Press \par A glossary of parliamentary terms likely to be used during House debate of four articles of impeachment against President Clinton.

Warren Buffett speaks

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 14:51:33 -0700

–IMPORTANT NOTE–In theory, corporate boards should have prevented this deterioration of conduct.

All things considered ...

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 12:38:10 -0700

… I have to say I wouldn’t mind having a robot body.

This is not an Onion parody article

Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:51:17 -0700

Some students boycott or blow off the WASL - seattlepi.com[Jan Hewitt, who is boycotting Washington State’s standardized WASL test] is working toward honors credits and is articulate beyond her age.

Chicks with Guns

Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:46:31 -0700

The only time I saw Iraqi men entirely intimidated by the American-British forces was in Basra, when a cluster of men gaped, awestruck, around an example of the most astoundingly modern weapon in the Western arsenal.

How does a one-time dictator ... grow old?

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 11:07:12 -0700

Curiosity ... inspired Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio to pursue the seven deposed dictators he interviews in "

New York Times— Man bites dog - correction, man _on_ dog

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 11:00:39 -0700

G.O.P. Hypocrisy - The New York TimesAt this point the reporter broke in.

Ask the Pilot

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 10:45:56 -0700

Beginning Sunday, April 20, 2003, airline pilots began bringing handguns into the cockpit .

The future of AI

Thu, 24 Apr 2003 18:57:18 -0700

Online Marketers to Stamp out Spam? - SlashdotI predict the first self-aware system will not be a 2001 HAL-like supercomputer, but a spam filter running on someones desktop.

Microsoft interview questions

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:15:29 -0700

Interviewing for computer jobs in Seattle in the last six years I’ve heard plenty of the Microsoft questions - puzzle questions asked during an interview to “see how you think.

where's Bruce Willis when you need him?

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 06:43:31 -0700

EDITED to remove post because really, it was especially bad.

SARS leads to political progress in China

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 10:15:52 -0700

One word I thought I may have overused when writing about the epidemic is unprecedented.

Doing god's work

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 23:38:33 -0700

So which ones are cults and which ones are sects? And do you think the author is a member?

Living in the Future, Part N

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 09:45:15 -0700

The Hundred-Year LanguageIt’s hard to predict what life will be like in a hundred years.

On (not) falling off my bicycle, or, I still have some good karma

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:42:52 -0700

I had a bicycle as a small child, and I’m sure I fell off it, but I don’t really remember.

Didn't she used to be a right-wing nut?

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:04:52 -0700

www.ariannaonline.com (linkrot: 403) And please don’t point to jubilant Iraqis dancing in the streets to validate the case for “pre-emptive liberation.

Independent Journalism in the Iraq War or, The Truth is Out There

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 00:58:00 -0700

One bright spot in the war is that we’re seeing a bunch of really independent journalists - people just up and go to the war zone and write about what they see.

Engineer, Physicist, Mathematician, programmer

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 00:32:08 -0700

The version of this joke that I heard/tell goes like this:

A good summary of the history of programming concepts

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 15:36:44 -0700

...structured programming, a reform movement whose manifesto was Edsger W. Dijkstra's brief letter to the editor titled "

The great thing about standards ...

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 15:19:17 -0700

… is that there are so many to choose from. In order to build your own linux kernel, you must have a bunch of supporting software, and each program must be relatively recent.

Court— Atheist Can Pray at City Meeting

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:44:31 -0700

Snyder filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Salt Lake City suburb for allowing other pre-meeting prayers but refusing to let him offer a prayer addressed to "

Math is hard

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:55:57 -0700

I updated The Quiz to show individual scores. It used to say:

Um, hello...?

Wed, 09 Apr 2003 22:07:26 -0700

blog.kynn.com kynn.com (linkrot)Which of the following was not one of the goals of this war?

Greenspan doesn't get it

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 19:53:46 -0700

FRB: Speech, Greenspan-Market economies–April 4, 2003Greenspan’s latest speech is taken as evidence that he wants to reform patent protections.

Zinni speaks

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 18:14:08 -0700

buffalonews.com Page not found – The Buffalo News (linkrot)Retired General Anthony Zinni, former CinC of the Central Command and recently “retired” from being Bush’s middle east envoy, is the most generally credible military viewpoint I’ve seen.

Zinni speaks

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 18:14:08 -0700

EDITED: Blog entry removed because who cares.

SARS=sad 4 YYZ

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 09:30:16 -0700

As some of you know, I work for a major Toronto hotel.

More Cliff Notes to aid your fear and loathing

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 19:41:57 -0700

salon.com (linkrot: 403)Up to now, SARS has had a fatality rate of about 3.

Cliff notes on Depleted Uranium

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 19:09:55 -0700

Natural uranium is a blend of several isotopes. After you take out the one percent that’s U-235 - the extra-radioactive part, very good if you like chain reactions - and traces of other isotopes, the leftover 99% is barely radioactive and almost twice as dense as lead.

And now for a break from war news

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 15:10:50 -0700

n/a

Using US military training to reform human rights violators (doesn't work)

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 10:06:30 -0700

[Commander in Chief of Pacific Command] Admiral Blair advocated the notion that U.

A sample relational schema, in plain English

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 09:38:13 -0700

Every human rights story goes like this: I am a deponent, and I'm here to tell you about things that happened to one or many victims.

More Russian intel. on the war

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:55:53 -0700

www.strana.ru 404 Not Found (linkrot)Coalition / Iraq: killed: 200 / 1,500 wounded: 300 / 3500 tanks: 32 / 87 other armored vehicles: 33 / 52 helicopters: 14 / 0 artillery pieces: 0 / 172 Translation by The Agonist.

Russian intelligence reports

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 16:17:25 -0700

www.aeronautics.ru (linkrot: HTTPConnectionPool(host=‘www.a)This Russian analysis contains assorted bad news, which sounds like normal war problems.

Lawyers

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 11:40:04 -0700

I found a lawyer who works for another landlord. He spends most of his days in court trying to evict tenants.

How about some good news for a change

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:45:36 -0700

story.news.yahoo.comIt appears that Bush administration’s Labor Department is actually trying to make a law more fair.

This war isn't really about Iraq ...

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:55:52 -0700

This war isn't really about Iraq or deposing Saddam or even eliminating his WMD, though each of those are important benefits along the way.

Boyd goes from gay to lesbian

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 22:58:49 -0700

I picked up my “pre-owned” Saab 9-5 Wagon tonight. My first stop on the way home was Home Depot.

DISTURBING JABBY GESTURES are the call of the day

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 16:28:31 -0700

Not to mention that he´s REALLY FUCKING WEIRD LOOKING, even when he´s dressed in a tuxedo.

Ashcroft defends your rights

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 14:40:48 -0700

Of course, not all civil liberties received such cavalier treatment. Although the PATRIOT Act allows the FBI to obtain records showing what books you purchased at the local bookstore or checked out from the library -- a suspect's reading habits might suggest an unsettling interest in the architecture of tall buildings -- Ashcroft has insisted that the FBI cannot review the records of gun-purchase background checks in the course of a terror investigation.

Gulf War Syndrome possible sources

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 14:34:05 -0700

Learning From the Last Time; In Search of a Gulf War With No Gulf War Illness - The New York TimesBetween 10,000 and 100,000 American veterans of the first Gulf War have abnormal symptoms attributed to “Gulf War Syndrome.

How to win an argument

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 14:16:36 -0700

Microsoft To Teach Undergrads About Secure Computing - SlashdotIn situations like these, the actual facts play only a modest role in shaping public opinion, especially when the “facts” are nebulous, subjective, and largely unquantifiable.

Roles, or, The future is already happening

Sat, 22 Mar 2003 00:14:11 -0700

Most everybody I know personally is either a spectator in this war or, for the few soldiers I know, a pawn.

Chicks rule

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 20:29:36 -0700

Today, I bought a Dixie Chicks t-shirt from their website. I had to do something to show solidarity with Natalie Maines, who got into a big ol’ heap of trouble after she dared speak out against dubya at a concert in England.

Hi there, real girl! Have some beef!

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 12:53:20 -0700

This is an excerpt from Cool 2B Real, which “is about real girls like you!

British Foreign Minister Robin Cook, resigning in protest

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 11:06:30 -0700

What has come to trouble me most over past weeks is the suspicion that if the hanging chads in Florida had gone the other way and Al Gore had been elected, we would not now be about to commit British troops.

Justice Scalia, in his own words

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 22:28:46 -0700

www.cleveland.com 404 Not Found (linkrot)“The Constitution just sets minimums,” Scalia said at John Carroll University.

(What's so funny 'bout) peace love and understanding

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 19:52:50 -0700

"If he comes [today] and I face him, I'll hit him.

JDAM GPS-guided bombs mean Boeing jobs! It's win-win.

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 19:00:09 -0700

Heeding appeals from techno-types, in 2000 Bill Clinton ended the deliberate degrading of the free GPS signal.

The real burst bubble wasn't dot-coms

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:54:21 -0700

www.bayarea.com Page not found - BayArea (linkrot)But more than a few jaws dropped when WorldCom noted that it would write down the value of its property, plant and equipment and other intangible assets to $10 billion from $44.

Ayn

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:46:56 -0700

I look at Paul Wolfowitz or Richard Pearle, I think of a guy who read that scene in Atlas Shrugged in which one of Ayn Rand's rich supermen confidently piloted a speed boat after fifteen minutes of watching someone else fiddle with it and thought, that's how I'm going to live my life.

There's always good news if you look hard enough

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:34:52 -0700

Today there was another rubber band shooting occurrence. ... Since this is not acceptable behavior, if it continues, it will result in penalty.

Constitution not dead yet

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 23:35:20 -0700

Lest any confusion remain, this is not a suggestion or a request that Padilla be permitted to consult with counsel, and it is certainly not an invitation to conduct a further 'dialogue' about whether he will be permitted to do so.

Concert Review— The American String Project

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 08:13:01 -0700

Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA, USA, 14 March 2003 The idea with this concert, part of a three-night series, was that UW professor Barry Lieberman modified many classical string pieces to add a double-bass part.

For those keeping score at home, North Korea is now in third place

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:28:23 -0700

talkingpointsmemo.com The page you were looking for doesn’t exist (404) (linkrot)The word is that Dick Cheney may be gravitating toward tactical alliance with Colin Powell over Korea.

Death to advertising-supported content

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 20:05:04 -0700

Retired Site | PBS Programs | PBS So we -- spammers and the spammed alike -- have a common interest in finding a way to efficiently target only the people who really want to buy Viagra.

Justice

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 07:59:05 -0700

"I had a guy in a Dodge pickup pull up behind me 6 feet off my bumper, flashing his high beams,"

We've got charts and graphs to back us up so ...

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 17:25:23 -0700

But show me where globalization is thinning or just plain absent, and I will show you regions plagued by politically repressive regimes, widespread poverty and disease, routine mass murder, and~~~~~most important~~~~~the chronic conflicts that incubate the next generation of global terrorists.

I guess we know where we go next ...

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:16:51 -0700

WASHINGTON: Iran's progress towards building a nuclear bomb was "startling" and "

The only generously funded institution in American public life

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:06:40 -0700

www.nybooks.com 403 Forbidden (linkrot: 403: Forbidden)In the course of her research Priest learned two things~~~~~that the CinCs are figures of extraordinary power throughout the territory they command, far more influential than American ambassadors; and that “the mission” of the US military has expanded enormously in the last decade or two.

The only thing that trumps fear is greed.

Sat, 08 Mar 2003 11:09:10 -0700

There are three things that govern a network. Fear is the first thing.

Tog on Swamp Buggy Races

Sat, 08 Mar 2003 00:07:39 -0700

Review: Swamp Buggy Races, Naples, FL They also do this really weird thing: Any of the drivers can buy the winner’s carburetor for $400 at the end of the race.

Does the "invade Iraq" book say what you think it does?

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 11:54:32 -0700

Six months after The Threatening Storm's publication, however, Pollack's book reads as much like an indictment of the Bush administration's overeagerness to go to war as it does an endorsement of it.

The future of Microsoft (et al)

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 15:10:22 -0700

E-029 2003 And BeyondThis summary of the IT industry is both thorough and pithy, and is accurate as far as I can tell.

February Book Reviews

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 23:41:10 -0700

Great: The Autobiography of Stalin. Richard Lourie. Every single word is brilliant.

I'm just cheering for slow-motion replay of injuries

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 12:53:32 -0700

It’s pretty hard to figure out where FCC Chairman William Powell stands on anything - he “[spoke] in eloquent riddles, whose circumlocutions left listeners elated but somewhat dizzy.

The Right Way

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:10:31 -0700

www.nybooks.com 403 Forbidden (linkrot: 403: Forbidden)There are two ways of opposing a war with Iraq.

This is not the time to panic! (That's next week)

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 16:06:48 -0700

www.asanet.org Page not found | American Sociological Association (linkrot)“We have five decades of research on all kinds of disasters – earthquakes, tornadoes, airplane crashes, etc.

Why Iraq?

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 10:00:52 -0700

EDITED: Removed post because who cares and also John Judis.

Good thing we didn't elect a liar for President

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 16:59:24 -0700

Newsday | Long Island’s & NYC’s News Source | NewsdayBush and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer went out of their way Thursday to cite a new survey by “Blue-Chip economists” that the economy would grow 3.

If at first you don't succeed, get a government subsidy

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:49:55 -0700

Segway continues to pursue the business model cherished by many free-market conservatives: government handouts.

Um ...

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 09:00:23 -0700

www.internalmemos.com (linkrot: HTTPConnectionPool(host=‘www.i)It’s my great pleasure to invite all of you to celebrate our ‘Back to Profitability Luau’ on Wednesday, March 5, starting at 4:00 pm.

The Daily Adventures of Mixerman (Week 4)

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 16:51:38 -0700

But a definitive classic sound scares the hell out of record companies, and when they listen to classic, they inevitably think somethings wrong with the production.

Is this ~Evils of synergy~ or ~Evils of Rupert Murdoch~ or just ~synergy of evil?~

Sat, 22 Feb 2003 20:49:08 -0700

www.salon.com (linkrot: 403) The point is the News Corp.’s journalistic and ethical malfeasance, and this time around, reporters seem to get that.

Good luck with the mustard gas

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:02:36 -0700

I reject the false dichotomy of “No War” vs “Support our troops.

How much blood for oil ...?

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 15:25:11 -0700

www.theonion.com Kinja - 404: PAGE_NOT_FOUND (linkrot)I keep hearing the anti-war protesters chant, “No blood for oil!

Europe Doesn't Suck (Why GDP != standard of living)

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 19:03:26 -0700

Chasing the leader - Economics focusMr Gordon guesses that one-third of the discrepancy between Europe’s productivity and its GDP per head, relative to America’s, represents freely chosen leisure.

Why Nerds are Unpopular

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 14:45:16 -0700

EDITED: Post removed because who cares and also, Paul Graham.

How I Joined Teach for America~~~~~and Got Sued for $20 Million

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 20:08:59 -0700

How I Joined Teach for America—and Got Sued for $20 Million | City JournalMore evidence (not that anyone in education needs it) that classroom discipline is far and away the most important element of school.

Life in Iraq

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:07:37 -0700

Even though I ought to know better, my mental picture of a typical Iraqi life is just a copy of my mental picture of Afghani life - total poverty, lots of veils and mullahs, dirt floors, that sort of thing.

Well, it sounds better than Everquest

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 22:58:57 -0700

Not that I’m about to start playing another MMORPG (I wasted a few months on Everquest a few years ago), but compare this new one:

Thank goodness we live in a peaceful, open country

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 01:33:37 -0700

DEPLOYMENTWhere are our carriers? 3 in drydock 5 in or headed for the Gulf (Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt, Nimitz, Constellation, Kitty Hawk) 4 in service but not Gulf-bound Carl Vinson, "

orange alert. don't panic.

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 16:37:52 -0700

www.usatoday.com USA TODAY (linkrot)From the USA Today How to react when terrorists attack Preparation key to survival -‘Dirty bomb’ attack… ‘What you should have on hand: Coarse soap for washing is helpful in case someone is exposed to radiation.

What freakish circumstance?

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 14:02:55 -0700

Skip the first four pages of tediously mediocre writing and revel in the getting-exposed-as-a-fraud third act of this sad story.

Bonus Feature— A Short Rant on Congestion and HOV lanes.

Sat, 08 Feb 2003 18:48:27 -0700

There is exactly one proven solution for urban congestion: a multi-decade decline in population.

Review of the Hybrid Flexcar

Sat, 08 Feb 2003 18:45:44 -0700

I experimented with two new technologies Thursday afternoon, one social and

Platinum Pieces down against the dollar today in light trading

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 15:40:09 -0700

This article is a good summary of why the virtual economy in MMORPGs like Everquest is actually interesting instead of just a curiousity.

Why doesn't MSN work with Opera?

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 11:26:49 -0700

... Opera7 receives a style sheet which is very different from the Microsoft and Netscape browsers.

Outsourcing rejection

Tue, 04 Feb 2003 11:07:02 -0700

Like all of our callers, the aspiring middle managers dialed a number and were put directly through to a recruiter.

Nixon not wholly evil

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 07:40:25 -0700

Matthew Meselson ... had the good luck to be a neighbor and friend of Henry Kissinger in 1968 when Nixon became president.

But Wait, There's More

Thu, 19 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I got off the plane in Vancouver (the stopover from A’Dam) and started trying to find my way around Vancouver International.

Birthday

Tue, 17 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Ohhh.. Thog ow. Not … not good. Ow. Ok, pack. That means finding all my stuff, now scattered around friends place.

In Circles

Mon, 16 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Monday looks like this: Get up. Get fuud. Go to A’Dam central station, then downtown A’Dam to check email.

All the other moneys ...

Sat, 14 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Back in Amsterdam, The Great City. I was planning on going out to that party in Eindhoven (remember, nothing in Holland is more than two hours away by train, excepting for some small islands in the central Atlantic which can be reached by Ariane rocket), but I needed to check my money first.

Eindhoven back to A'Dam

Fri, 13 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Wednesday night I wandered Eindhoven and spent some time writing at a downtown cafe/pub.

Njimegan

Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I left Arnhem on Tuesday morning and headed south to Njimegan.

Arnhem

Sat, 07 Jul 2001 00:00:00 +0000

I peddled into Arnhem around 6:30 pm on Saturday evening. I’d made the 60 km or so from Bunnik in about 9 hours, including a few breaks.

Bunnik

Fri, 06 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I think that’s the name of the town I ended up at.

On The Road To Arnhem

Fri, 06 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

This morning I packed up and left The Pig, bound by bicycle to Arnhem.

Possibilities

Wed, 04 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Today I woke up with a ripping migraine that might have started as a hangover, but had rapidly progressed in my sleep into a spike through my skull.

Bikes

Tue, 03 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I spent the earlier part of the day sending out resumes to companies I found on www.

Getting Ready To Skip Town

Mon, 02 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Sunday was low-key. I was supposed to go out Saturday night with one of the staff to a tekkno party, but timing failed and it didn’t happen.

Dutch Politics

Sat, 30 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Dutch politics are interesting. As unfathomable as it seems to an American, there seems to be a real tendency to resolve problems without a lot of posturing and grandstanding for votes.

In the Meantime, Back At The Ranch

Wed, 27 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

I had been assured by a number of people that the Dutch are difficult to get to know and have no reason to want to know American travelers.

On the Beach

Sat, 23 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Saturday night I was jonesing for a party. After the week of stress in and leaving London, it was definitely time to blow some energy off.

Back to A'Dam

Wed, 20 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

By Tuesday night I’d decided it was time to go. My finances were taking a gruesome beating, the check situation was still totally screwed up, and I figured I’d go back to Amsterdam for a few days before I headed south.

No Shit, There I Was In Southampton ...

Tue, 19 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

The cab was waiting in the parking lot right beside the train station.

Hey Effluvious, We're Running Short Of Towels Here

Mon, 18 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Monday I got as early a start as I could manage and headed out.

The Tube, The Belfast, The Tower, Parliament, The Palace

Mon, 18 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

A note about the London Underground (the Tube): it is amazing.

Dancing

Sun, 17 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

On Saturday, after seeing the Imperial War Museum and generally farting around, I decided to go dancing.

A Word About London Traffic

Sat, 16 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Author’s Note: (I’ve gotten this uploaded at an obnoxious little internet cafe/headshop.

The Luftwaffe Civil Engineering Corps

Fri, 15 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

The south of London, the Quays, is undergoing redevelopment. It used to be the major shipping stop for much of Europe, until Rotterdam surpassed it sometime in the last century.

Twitch Mode

Tue, 12 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

For all my care-free, lets-go-to-Europe-and-damn-the-cannons approach to this trip I am at core something of a worrier.

Vacuum In My Head

Mon, 11 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

On Friday I had gone to the hospital to get my leg and ear checked on.

Oh, you're the naked guy of 107!

Sun, 10 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I was woken up by the Beatles this morning. A wad of English People came into my room around 3pm and started disembarking, chattering merrily away in English, and more distressed by my presence than I was by theirs.

How Can I? How Should I? Would I

Thu, 07 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Sitting in a coffee (just coffee) shop, listing to St. Germain (Techno-Jazz) and some drum-techno (real drums, mixed with techno).

About mid Friday my left leg gave out.

Mon, 04 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

It’s been a rough several days. About mid Friday my left leg gave out.

Lousy Food and Warm Beer!

Mon, 04 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Reasturants to see; Mister Coco’s, which proudly advertises “Lousy Food and Warm Beer!

The Bartender Is Bored

Mon, 04 Jun 2001 00:00:00 +0000

.. staying at a different hostel for the night, waiting for the shuttle back to Amsterdam, and the bartender is bored.

The Flying Pig

Sat, 02 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Ah, the youth Hostel. So yesterday afternoon I did some research.

But what the HELL is the Dutch fascination with the word 'Poot'?!?

Fri, 01 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I’ve noticed I’m in a foreign country. No, really! There are many ways to tell, not least of which being a plane flight reminiscent of traveling from Seattle to Tacoma in rush hour by yak.

I noticed that there were deep red lights above the windows

Fri, 01 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0700

So I decided to do some more exploring last night. I’ve been too hyped to stay in my room (which is roughly the size of a small bathroom with bed in place of the tub anyway) but the ear infection is seriously denting my enjoyment of the experience.

Amsterdam, Adventure!

Thu, 31 May 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Wow, sensory overload. I’ve been on the ground about 12 hours and have definitely been experiencing Holland.

Below me the flat plain of ice drops away into jagged hills

Wed, 30 May 2001 00:00:00 -0700

I’m looking out the plane window at an icefield, presumably Greenland or someplace in far NE Canada.

Going Far Away To Do Wild and Crazy Things

Wed, 30 May 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Airborne at 29000 feet, just approaching Churchill near Hudson Bay, which from the looks of things from the plane is essentially a gigantic mudflat or elluvial plain that ends in a bay the size of the Gulf of Mexico.

Duri and ruminations...

Tue, 29 May 2001 00:00:00 +0000

See also; Rheumatism, Senility, Rhomboid. (Note: most of this was written late last night in a Sudafed induced stupor, then copied to a .

Advanced Usability Testing Notes

Sat, 07 Apr 2001 00:00:00 -0700

This was a full-day tutorial at the Seattle Center

CHI 2001, Day Two

Wed, 04 Apr 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Overall, I’m enjoying the conference and think it’s worth it.

Rejected RFC

Sun, 01 Apr 2001 00:00:00 -0700

This memo provides information for the Internet community. This

Joel's Movie Reviews for 2000

Sun, 31 Dec 2000 00:00:00 +0000

⯪ Battlefield Earth

Epilogue

Sat, 30 Sep 2000 00:27:12 +0000

Hello All! I am back in the U.S., land of pizza and baseball and harmless mozzies (except for New York City, but that’s like a foreign country anyway).

Coastal Kenya

Tue, 05 Sep 2000 13:02:51 +0000

Hello All! I hope everyone is well, and living a distinctly malaria-free life.

Nairobi and Lake Victoria

Wed, 16 Aug 2000 14:29:13 +0000

Hello all! I am back in Nairobi after a few days in rural Kenya near Lake Victoria.

Israel

Thu, 10 Aug 2000 13:33:06 +0000

Hello all! OK, here is the story on Israel. Should be much shorter than the Egypt story…

Upper Egypt And Mt. Sinai

Thu, 03 Aug 2000 13:05:11 +0000

Hello All! I hope everyone is well… I am in Israel, a refreshingly modern country, with modern prices to match.

Cairo

Thu, 20 Jul 2000 13:40:42 +0000

Hello everyone! I was going to do one update of Egypt, but Cairo deserves its own:

Greece

Sun, 16 Jul 2000 06:03:00 -0700

Hello All! (I am issuing the usual length disclaimer here…you have been warned)

Update #1

Mon, 03 Jul 2000 00:37:06 -0700

Howdy all! Welcome to the new people on my little what’s-going-on-in-Gus’s-life update list: several friends from school, and two cool new people I’ve already met on my not-exactly-round-the-world trip: Laura and Fitsum.

A Plan In Response to the End of the World As We Know It

Mon, 06 Mar 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Original Schedule Date Starts At Ends at Miles Slack Time (out of 12-hour travel day) Wednesday, Dec 29 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles 0 mi 10 hours Thursday, Dec 30 Los Angeles Joshua Tree, CA 163 mi 9 hours Friday, Dec 31 Joshua Tree Mesquite, NV 376 mi 5 hours Saturday, Jan 1 Mesquite Boulder, UT 252 mi 6 hours Sunday, Jan 2 Boulder Boulder 0 mi - Monday, Jan 3 Boulder Los Angeles 570 mi 0 hrs Tuesday, Jan 4 Los Angeles Los Angeles 125 mi 10 hours Wednesday, Jan 5 - - - - Actual Schedule Date Actual Start Actual End Wednesday, Dec 29 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Thursday, Dec 30 depart Los Angeles noon arrive Joshua Tree, CA 4 pm Friday, Dec 31 depart Joshua Tree 9 am arrive Mesquite, NV 4:30 pm Saturday, Jan 1 depart Mesquite 11:20 pm the previous night arrive Boulder, UT 5 am Sunday, Jan 2 depart Boulder 10 am arrive Los Angeles 8 pm Monday, Jan 3 Los Angeles back to Seattle

Scenarios for the End of the World as We Know It

Mon, 06 Mar 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Substantial sections of the text were copied from other web sites.

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1999

Fri, 31 Dec 1999 00:00:00 +0000

No Stars: End of Days

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1998

Thu, 31 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000

⯪ Very Bad Things

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1997

Wed, 31 Dec 1997 00:00:00 +0000

⯪ Con Air

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1996

Tue, 31 Dec 1996 00:00:00 +0000

No stars: Twister

Great Moments in Spring Training

Thu, 14 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000

From rec.sport.baseball¹:

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1995

Sun, 31 Dec 1995 00:00:00 +0000

⯪ Highlander 3

Joel's Movie Reviews for 1994 and before

Sat, 31 Dec 1994 00:00:00 +0000

No Stars Note1 ½ * *½ Barbarians at the Gate Fat Man and Little Boy Picnic at Hanging Rock ** As Tears Go By Through the Olive Trees **½ Le Samourai The Life of Brian Midnight Run Take the Money and Run *** A Boy and His Dog Cathy Tippel My Favorite Year Strictly Ballroom Stop Making Sense Touch of Evil Yojimbo ***½ Double Indemnity Godfather Part 2 Jesus of Montreal Mr.

Joel's Movie Review Scoring System

Fri, 30 Dec 1994 00:00:00 +0000

Guidelines Recommendation1 No Stars Wrapping your body in a burning nitrate print of this film would be more fun than watching it.

403: It is … forbidden.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Error 403: Forbidden More information

A Big Red Button as a one-key USB keyboard

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I made a big red button. When pushed, it locks my computer.

Notes on setting up new computers

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A humane computer in 2020

Computers should be safe, moral, sane, usable, and productive. From advertising to crashes to privacy problems to slave-made ingredients, they mostly aren’t.

Urim, or, an API for fortune-telling

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

It turned out that I couldn’t use a big red button to lock my desktop because other people wanted to push the big red button.