I made a new personal website, matt-arnold.com. I have now completely migrated 21 years of blog posts from here to the blog section of that site, with improved ...
I made a new personal website, matt-arnold.com. I have now completely migrated 21 years of blog posts from here to the blog section of that site, with improved full-text search and filtering. Let me know if you find formatting issues from the migration process!
I've set up a commenting system, although comments here won't transfer over to comments there and vice-versa. I'd appreciate if you'd test it! I know I can count on Sarah Elkins to do so. :)
For several years, every site I've built has us...
I've customized my instructions for ChatGPT pretty heavily, to the point where it understands my preferences. Here's a very good conversation I had with it this...
I've customized my instructions for ChatGPT pretty heavily, to the point where it understands my preferences. Here's a very good conversation I had with it this week:
I have a very broad question about existential therapy. Consider the following three passages. The first is a paragraph from a book with an approach I find quite frustrating, "Unlearning Shame" by Devon Price. The subjectivity of Price's existentialism seems, to me, to leave them in constant despair, because there is no w...
I had ChatGPT summarize a guest post on Jonathan Haidt's Substack, written by Yascha Mounk. The four-paragraph summary communicates more clearly than the origin...
I had ChatGPT summarize a guest post on Jonathan Haidt's Substack, written by Yascha Mounk. The four-paragraph summary communicates more clearly than the original. First, here's a three-paragraph summary of the introduction by Jonathan Haidt:
A major societal shift began around 2014, marked by increased political polarization, rising youth mental health issues, and a dramatic transformation in the behavior and goals of many institutions. Rather than being a simple generational change, this shif...
Two years ago, I started an Authentic Relating and Circling group in my living room. I threw it together without much experience, to be honest. I've been strong...
Two years ago, I started an Authentic Relating and Circling group in my living room. I threw it together without much experience, to be honest. I've been strongly considering renaming what we do. We've been considering "I Can't Believe It's Not Circling." "Intentional Relating" might get across the idea better than the word "Authentic", which carries some misleading connotations.
Think of it like speed dating, except it's "speed friending". We get in some ...
Last week I participated in the Midwest's local regional Burning Man, called Lakes Of Fire, for the seventh time. For those who don't know, Burning Man is a wee...
Last week I participated in the Midwest's local regional Burning Man, called Lakes Of Fire, for the seventh time. For those who don't know, Burning Man is a week-long annual art festival with more than eighty thousand people. Lakes Of Fire is 5 days long and gets 2,300. At both of them, near the end, a giant wooden artwork (the Effigy) is burned to the ground along with a show of fire spinners, fire breathers, and fireworks. But it's so much more than that. It's a worldwide movement with branche...
How to define autism and why it matters
I've centered my life around nerds for decades. Many of them sit in a room full of other awkward nerds, feeling secretly...
How to define autism and why it matters
I've centered my life around nerds for decades. Many of them sit in a room full of other awkward nerds, feeling secretly out of place like they don't belong, & somehow assume they're the only one who is secretly uncomfortable.
The term "neurotypical" experienced meaning-drift, until it became worse than useless, just like the word "planet". It needs ontological remodeling.
There's a lot of equivocation on this. So let's define terms...
At this week's board meeting of my hackerspace, we finally were able to take a vote on the ventilation safety dispute between the baby boomer craft show ladies ...
At this week's board meeting of my hackerspace, we finally were able to take a vote on the ventilation safety dispute between the baby boomer craft show ladies in Jewelry and the Gen-Z craft show ladies in Ceramics, who had been engaged in an escalating cycle of passive-aggressive backstabbing for weeks. None of which they engaged in when I was personally present, so they tended to call me in to mediate. They drew up a new floor plan map and it resolved very well.
At the Board meeting, suddenly ...
This series changed me.
It's customary to begin by indicating whether there will be spoilers. In one sense, no. This blog post will reveal no specific details a...
This series changed me.
It's customary to begin by indicating whether there will be spoilers. In one sense, no. This blog post will reveal no specific details about anything in the Terra Ignota series of novels by Ada Palmer. On the other hand, I'm creating a generic spoiler about the way plot-twists condition our minds when we read most fiction. I recently met someone who had not read this series because everyone who raved about it would not say why, because they didn't want to give spoilers. ...
The following is a transcript of an hour-long retrospective episode from the UNSONG Audiobook Podcast. (Here are links to the first episode, to the complete tex...
The following is a transcript of an hour-long retrospective episode from the UNSONG Audiobook Podcast. (Here are links to the first episode, to the complete text of the novel, and to a summary of what the novel is about.)
I recently realized I never posted the text version of this retrospective anywhere.
I think you will get something out of it even if you have not read the novel.
It includes recommendations for further reading or listening, my reflections on the themes of the novel, the ability...
Mild spoilers for season 1 of the 2019 TV show "The Mandalorian", but no big plot twists are spoiled. And if you still haven't watched it, maybe you a...
Mild spoilers for season 1 of the 2019 TV show "The Mandalorian", but no big plot twists are spoiled. And if you still haven't watched it, maybe you are only pretending to believe you're going to watch it? In which case, you should read this anyway.
The Mandalorian reminds me of what David Chapman and I talked about in a recent bonus episode of my podcast, an interview about "Pretending To Believe".
There's an old joke that goes, "Protestants don't recognize the Pope, Ca...
I recommend the book "The Art Of Gathering" by Priya Parker, about organizing parties, book clubs, conferences, dinners, festivals, or any other gathe...
I recommend the book "The Art Of Gathering" by Priya Parker, about organizing parties, book clubs, conferences, dinners, festivals, or any other gathering. Here are some highlights. Any mischaracterizations are my own over-simplification. For the sake of concision, my summary may convey the impression she does not argue these points. But she does so, convincingly.
If you have a clear idea of a special purpose for coming together, you can create a separate world with temporary rules tha...
A week ago, I attended Vibecamp in Austin, Texas, as I said in my last journal entry, "Vibeology, Vibeography, Vibeonomy". I made new friends, ran som...
A week ago, I attended Vibecamp in Austin, Texas, as I said in my last journal entry, "Vibeology, Vibeography, Vibeonomy". I made new friends, ran some events, and was really impressed with the operational execution of the organizers. I hoped to come back with some insights about scenes and groups, and I think I did.
I would have been more directly involved with running Vibecamp, were it not for an unexpected interruption in my income which made it uncertain during January whether I co...
On March 4 - 6 I'm going to be attending the first Vibecamp, in a summer camp cabin facility outside Austin, Texas. It's for a loose collection of Twitter users...
On March 4 - 6 I'm going to be attending the first Vibecamp, in a summer camp cabin facility outside Austin, Texas. It's for a loose collection of Twitter users who refer to themselves tongue-in-cheek as Ingroup, with a vibe that feels to me to be ha-ha-only-serious. They're associated with a movement called post-rationalism, which emerged from a Silicon-Valley based movement of internet bloggers called rationalism, primarily centered around a website called LessWrong. (This is not the same as r...
tldr: Maintaining dissatisfaction on the long-term is a skill. If you are constantly forced to pretend to want things, you risk acclimating, so you need to rema...
tldr: Maintaining dissatisfaction on the long-term is a skill. If you are constantly forced to pretend to want things, you risk acclimating, so you need to remain attuned to your real feelings. This essay considers whether I inappropriately discount the meaningfulness of things, or correctly identify meaningfulness only where it really exists. How to have serenity without complacency.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?...
I formed the following list of technical skills in front-end web development, helping to develop a career progression track for front-end devs at our company. W...
I formed the following list of technical skills in front-end web development, helping to develop a career progression track for front-end devs at our company. When do you ask for a title change and a pay raise as a front-end web developer? And which skills do you talk about to justify it? At the higher levels your qualifications will mostly be leadership skills, not just the technical skills. But for the sake of length, I'm going to focus on technical skills here.
There's a lot to learn in front...
After reading "The Will To Battle", the third novel in the Terra Ignota series, I started to worry about what was going to be revealed about Utopians ...
After reading "The Will To Battle", the third novel in the Terra Ignota series, I started to worry about what was going to be revealed about Utopians in the fourth and final novel, "Perhaps The Stars". I wrote this essay. I didn't want to publish it. It might be spoilers if I guessed correctly. I read "Perhaps The Stars" and the guesses in this essay about what would happen were not correct. Having given myself some weeks to mull it over, I have decided to publish t...
I'll be in Philadelphia on December 3 through 5, presenting at the Critical Rationalist Weekend on the topic of "Robert Kegan's Framework Of Adult Cognitiv...
I'll be in Philadelphia on December 3 through 5, presenting at the Critical Rationalist Weekend on the topic of "Robert Kegan's Framework Of Adult Cognitive Development".
I might also submit lightning talks on Lojban, board game design and Kickstarting, how to create lasercut tool paths with Adobe Illustrator, A Historical Pre-enactment Society, and "spimes".
[Edited to add: I put my talk on YouTube.]
Comments
selki on Nov. 19, 2021 2:33 AM
I think I've seen you write/talk a...
There are multiple reasons to draw parallels with the past, and not all are useful.
While narrating my audiobook, I read a chapter in which there were footnotes...
There are multiple reasons to draw parallels with the past, and not all are useful.
While narrating my audiobook, I read a chapter in which there were footnotes. In these footnotes, the author described parallels between a four-step method he was presenting, and ancient ideas from Vajrayana Buddhism called the Four Naljors. I'm impressed with these parallels; I really am. But it doesn't belong in persuasive writing. I prefer these footnotes to be extracted into an Appendix. The chapter must serv...
Today, "Perhaps The Stars", the fourth and final installment of the Terra Ignota series of science fiction novels, is released in the United States. I...
Today, "Perhaps The Stars", the fourth and final installment of the Terra Ignota series of science fiction novels, is released in the United States. I have a lot to say about it, but will save my review for another day. For now, as a form of raising a glass in toast to celebrate the completion of the Terra Ignota series, I'm going to describe a dream I had. What interests me the most is what the scene in this dream implies about the world it would have to exist in.
In the Terra Ignota ...
I'm excited. I finally went ahead and signed up for Direct Primary Care at Plum Health DPC. The Direct Primary Care model of health care is a monthly subscripti...
I'm excited. I finally went ahead and signed up for Direct Primary Care at Plum Health DPC. The Direct Primary Care model of health care is a monthly subscription (the amount is age-based), and doesn't accept insurance.
Switching insurance for my new job once again cost me my primary care doctor whose office was in the building where I used to work, and only sees employees there. As a software developer, it's normal for me to change jobs every couple of years. I've never had a primary care docto...
Following up on my experiences with my roommate's dog. Not the older dog, but the yTRANSMISSION BEGINS Can you hear me? Can they hear me? Is this on? My name is...
Following up on my experiences with my roommate's dog. Not the older dog, but the yTRANSMISSION BEGINS Can you hear me? Can they hear me? Is this on? My name is Lauren Sheridan. I am from Estacada, Oregon. I promise you I don't have horns or a tail.
I don't know if anyone will receive this. If you do, you might not listen, and I understand your reasons. But I need you to understand that when your loved ones rise from the dead and you are the first ones they try to kill, it is not because they ha...
tl;dr: Both talking and listening can be beneficial to others. When we assume that listeners are always sacrificing for speakers, this causes problems. ~and~ Th...
tl;dr: Both talking and listening can be beneficial to others. When we assume that listeners are always sacrificing for speakers, this causes problems. ~and~ The definitions of "care work", "self-care", and "emotional labor" have drifted to transform replenishing experiences into depleting "labor".
## 1. The Medicalization Framework
I recently spent some time with a therapist friend. She told of a tendency for many in her life to unload their woundedness ...
No matter how useful and beneficial something is, it can be done wrong. I'm not saying it's always bad. It's just done
right some times and wrong other times. W...
No matter how useful and beneficial something is, it can be done wrong. I'm not saying it's always bad. It's just done
right some times and wrong other times. When we conceive of ourselves as belonging to the hero team and fighting the
villains team in a superhero movie, it becomes impossible to conceive of any way that is doing it wrong. Hold that in
mind.
If you bounce off of this blog post quickly, or if you assume bad faith, at the very least please read
"The Stifling Air Of Rigid
Radic...
Populations everywhere have a lot in common. You cannot understand the redness of this November's election results unless you understand the parallels between t...
Populations everywhere have a lot in common. You cannot understand the redness of this November's election results unless you understand the parallels between the culture of America and cultures in the Middle East. You cannot force democracy on those who prefer autocracy. Neither can you force democracy on Americans who prefer the American equivalent of the Taliban. The terrorists and autocrats and supporters in other nations, and the terrorists and autocrats and supporters in our culture, diffe...
Teleconference Transcript Of "Basic Income And Human Obsolescence"
Virtual Penguicon
Saturday, April 25
11am to 12pm
[This transcript is edited to rem...
Teleconference Transcript Of "Basic Income And Human Obsolescence"
Virtual Penguicon
Saturday, April 25
11am to 12pm
[This transcript is edited to remove requests for the audience to mute their microphones and dealing with technical issues.]
Supply And Demand
1. Demand is limited by having insufficient money to spend.
2. We have practically perfected the process of creating supply.
3. Wealth inequality supercharges supply, because capital investments are in automation.
4. Wealth inequ...
The book "Non Violent Communication" describes going through three phases. The first is a phase of dependency and people-pleasing. Basically having we...
The book "Non Violent Communication" describes going through three phases. The first is a phase of dependency and people-pleasing. Basically having weak boundaries.
So you enter the second phase, which is autonomous inflexibility. Up until that point you were a people-pleaser, so you got very little practice at figuring out the when and where and why to have boundaries. So now everything's just a boundary. You decide in isolation what that will look like, without communication, and dec...
Announcing Penguicon.social.
Mastodon is a social media platform. My first question was "Why another one?" You know how you have a network of endless ...
Announcing Penguicon.social.
Mastodon is a social media platform. My first question was "Why another one?" You know how you have a network of endless different email servers, but they can all email each other? Mastodon is self-hosted exactly like that, for social media.
Penguicon operates our own Mastodon server, https://penguicon.social, funded by Penguicon, and run on our own internet infrastructure, which can interoperate with thousands of other social media servers. That network is...
What commonly causes the bonds of a social group to fly apart like a shattering flywheel? What causes a project's efforts to stagnate in rigidity and obsolescen...
What commonly causes the bonds of a social group to fly apart like a shattering flywheel? What causes a project's efforts to stagnate in rigidity and obsolescence?
I.
I will pick a bicycling group as a random example of an activity group, although I have not been in that one specifically. Bike riders can be good and bad or have good or bad politics; and yet I live out my own specific values when organizing the group.
Some of them will say, "stop politicizing bicycle outings". And I res...
Polyamory-related blogs and online discussion groups are reposting the following paragraph:
Hey, can any polyamory blogs with a follower count please inform the...
Polyamory-related blogs and online discussion groups are reposting the following paragraph:
Hey, can any polyamory blogs with a follower count please inform the palagi portion of the community that “poly” is a Polynesian community identifier, and is important to our safe spaces.
Using “polyamory” is cool just like using “polygender” and “Polyromantic” and or Polysexual” is cool. But the abbreviation “poly” is already in use.
"Palagi" means "foreigner". It is a word specific t...
Despite the ending of the video being a punchline, in all seriousness, there is something important here about how human beings create meaning and purpose from ...
Despite the ending of the video being a punchline, in all seriousness, there is something important here about how human beings create meaning and purpose from within. Do you have a second?
Try to describe how you tie your shoelaces. Do not demonstrate; do not use visual aids. Use only words. I'll bet your instructions will make it look complicated.
If someone else sets up the board before you begin to play, and then demonstrates one round instead of teaching you the rules in advance, you will ...
This week, Adventure Time had its series finale. Here's a link to an article on Vox about it.
One of the show's storytelling techniques is, we might say, "...
This week, Adventure Time had its series finale. Here's a link to an article on Vox about it.
One of the show's storytelling techniques is, we might say, "Ha Ha Only Serious". It grappled with painful and disturbing subjects, by placing them within in a juvenile setting which was difficult to take seriously, and then getting farther out in left field whenever it would start to lose a sense of fun.
To be clear, in case you start to watch the show and feel like I misled you: many episode...
"Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet."
-- Desperado
This post...
"Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet."
-- Desperado
This post broadly categorizes four styles of conflict resolution. Ignoring or denying it (Diamonds); sentiment without follow through (Hearts); endurance, shame, and blame (Clubs); and solving problems (Spades).
If people can be categorized into Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades, I want Spades. Bear with me for a minute.
-- PART 1: DIAMONDS ---
...
Let's talk about what's grandstanding and what's not. I try to charge myself a Righteous Outrage Fee when I leap into a fray on the internet and publicly render...
Let's talk about what's grandstanding and what's not. I try to charge myself a Righteous Outrage Fee when I leap into a fray on the internet and publicly render a judgement against a specific person. That trains my habits. The anger is about an unmet need, right? So I ask myself first, "Am I willing to make a concrete sacrifice to meet the unmet need?" If not, then I'm not helping. All I would be doing is grandstanding.
In this case, Person A co-signed a loan for Person B for thousands...
Someone in your group frequently misbehaves. In your own private relationship with that person, you can take their good intentions into account, one-on-one; tho...
Someone in your group frequently misbehaves. In your own private relationship with that person, you can take their good intentions into account, one-on-one; those good intentions determine how much energy you spend educating them. But groups must exclude individuals based on outcomes-- the damage they do to others. Good intentions don't change that.
I'll tell you something which summarizes a large part of the last several years of my life. Many people avoid participating in a group, in order to ...
Please read this if you think we are experiencing the same pendulum-swing of power we were used to. You are probably confused by the fear you have been seeing a...
Please read this if you think we are experiencing the same pendulum-swing of power we were used to. You are probably confused by the fear you have been seeing after the election.
I'm surprised by how little of my fear has to do with the same old partisan fights. What you are about to read is not a partisan article. It is not an attack on you, or on Conservatism, or on Republicans, but a recognition of something larger than that which I hope will concern you as a citizen.
We are used to the pendu...
What does it mean for America to be "Great"? From a game design perspective, this is a question of scoring systems. In life, you get to think about wh...
What does it mean for America to be "Great"? From a game design perspective, this is a question of scoring systems. In life, you get to think about which scoring system results in the world you want to live in. Each of us is our own game designer. You get to decide what it means to you.
If America were a game, the scoring system would involve two scores. There is the Well-Being Score of each individual player. Most of the systems use those to get the second score, which is the Greatnes...
It has taken me a long time to learn the social dynamics of shame. Do you know when I feel shame? When I ignore the voice of past-me and future-me telling me &q...
It has taken me a long time to learn the social dynamics of shame. Do you know when I feel shame? When I ignore the voice of past-me and future-me telling me "you know you'll regret this". I did it during 2015 for several months. Then I noticed something: that is the only time I feel shame. When someone else tells me their needs and asks me to meet those needs, I usually just do that, without involving my self-image. So, I need to learn what it's like to be the kind of person whose sel...
There is a line that keeps coming into my head. "In their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand." I did some searches for the...
There is a line that keeps coming into my head. "In their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand." I did some searches for the line in Superman comics and movies, assuming it was about the storyline in which Lex Luthor was elected President. The line turned out to be from Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight, in reference to the Joker.
The quote comes to mind every time I hear something about Trump supporters who-- somehow-- also follow Jesus of Nazareth.
Fo...
A few months ago, a former Penguicon Board member phoned me, who I had not spoken to in about four years. It turned out we were thinking about a lot of the same...
A few months ago, a former Penguicon Board member phoned me, who I had not spoken to in about four years. It turned out we were thinking about a lot of the same issues lately, and some of those issues included how to keep in touch with people, and who to keep in touch with.
What are your strategies for maintaining contact? Mine is to detect another person's level of reaching out to me, and reach out the same amount plus one step.
My strategy is due to my unique circumstances. I have a lot of pro...
I'll walk you through how to make a logo look good when reduced to a 16x16-pixel image. The easiest methods produce ugly results. Craftsmanship is fiendishly ch...
I'll walk you through how to make a logo look good when reduced to a 16x16-pixel image. The easiest methods produce ugly results. Craftsmanship is fiendishly challenging at this level. When you only have 256 pixels, each one matters.
Favicons are the tiny images that appear in the title bar of your web browser. It's usually the logo of the site. If you're reading this article on Livejournal in 2015, look for a blue circle with a black pencil in it. Notice how each tab you have open in your brows...
Today a sheriff at a press conference reminded us to embargo the name of the latest gunman-of-the-month. Identifying him provides the attention he was after, an...
Today a sheriff at a press conference reminded us to embargo the name of the latest gunman-of-the-month. Identifying him provides the attention he was after, and motivates someone else to do the same for fame. Your antagonism is the reward they seek.
At that moment, I realized there are some who I used to be close to in my communities, who I now only think about when dozens of people are murdered. Tragically-frequent repetition has trained me to make one main connection in my memory with some of...
I'll run Alien Frontiers and Flash Duel (Co-op mode) at U-Con this year, November 20-22 in Ypsilanti; plus Terracosm and Mirage, two unpublished prototypes of m...
I'll run Alien Frontiers and Flash Duel (Co-op mode) at U-Con this year, November 20-22 in Ypsilanti; plus Terracosm and Mirage, two unpublished prototypes of my own game designs.
Alien Frontiers. Friday 7p-9p.
Roll and place your dice to gain advantages over your opponent and block them out of useful areas of the board. Use Alien Tech cards to manipulate your dice rolls and territory bonuses to break the rules. Steal resources, overtake territories, and do whatever it takes to get your colonies...
I have now worked for one month at the best job I have ever had. I have never seen a software development environment so supportive of learning, and so well-dis...
I have now worked for one month at the best job I have ever had. I have never seen a software development environment so supportive of learning, and so well-disciplined in following responsible practices.
Almost all day, every day, we sit with a colleague and code as a team.
We write a test for a piece of functionality before we write the code to implement it.
We use a continuous integration server which turns a screen very visibly red and alerts our chat channels whenever someone commits code t...
Today I had a conversation with a graphic design client who, for the past several years, I have charged $20 per image. It is an example of how, merely by settin...
Today I had a conversation with a graphic design client who, for the past several years, I have charged $20 per image. It is an example of how, merely by setting your own boundaries in a healthy place, you often don't have to filter other people out of your life, because they will do so for you. I refer to this as a "self-solving problem".
Hi Matt,
I leave for a conference in Israel on Wed, Sept 2. Have any time between now & then to upgrade some graphics?
-Clientname
Probably. I...
A few weeks ago, I applied to Grand Circus as a Javascript instructor. They asked me to fill out a questionnaire about my teaching style. Answering the question...
A few weeks ago, I applied to Grand Circus as a Javascript instructor. They asked me to fill out a questionnaire about my teaching style. Answering the questions was very thought-provoking, so I'll share my answers with you. Let me know what you think.
You're teaching an 8 week adult bootcamp, from 9am-5pm daily. *
One of your students is very, very overwhelmed. It's week 2 and he doesn't feel that he is understanding the materials or that he will ever catch up to his classmates' progress. What...
Perhaps I should learn something that makes developers cringe, such as Visual Basic or .NET. This will take multiple steps of reasoning to explain, so bear with...
Perhaps I should learn something that makes developers cringe, such as Visual Basic or .NET. This will take multiple steps of reasoning to explain, so bear with me.
I have been interviewing for various startups. That has been a very educational experience about the "expectation fit" between types of companies and types of employees. When discussing my recent job interviews with a friend who worked for one of the startups, he made a comment that he and his colleagues all worked long hou...
This week at a theater festival, I have heard several monologue actors, comedy musicians, and other performers put on shows about relationship structures, such ...
This week at a theater festival, I have heard several monologue actors, comedy musicians, and other performers put on shows about relationship structures, such as monogamy and polyamory. A recurring theme is talking about their relationships like they are in a hostage situation. They feel like because they are in love, they are forced (as if at gunpoint) to "have a relationship". But that vague phrase "have a relationship" means different things to the two of them. They are t...
I wish I were exaggerating when I say the objective of the Neoreactionary movement is the reversal of democracy and human rights, and an intention to install a ...
I wish I were exaggerating when I say the objective of the Neoreactionary movement is the reversal of democracy and human rights, and an intention to install a monarch CEO over America. Alas, that is how they describe their stance in their own words.
Recently, the most famous Neoreactionary thought-leader (one of the founders of the movement) was scheduled to speak about technology at a major software conference. When his detractors pointed out the content of his online writings to the conferenc...
Here is the email I sent to the i3Detroit mailing list:
We discussed this at the Board of Directors meeting this week. Our hacker space is experiencing a lot of...
Here is the email I sent to the i3Detroit mailing list:
We discussed this at the Board of Directors meeting this week. Our hacker space is experiencing a lot of growth, so not everyone knows everyone any more. We want i3Detroit to be a place where, if someone hassles you, steals from you, or walks all over you without consideration, they can't just vanish with impunity-- one more stranger in a crowd of strangers. Some conflicts can't be resolved unless the group itself takes action.
In a new soc...
I finally watched the 2012 4-episode BBC series which adapted "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul&q...
I finally watched the 2012 4-episode BBC series which adapted "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul", by the author of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy".
This is a science-fiction comedy about a fast-talking con man. He peddles self-serving conspiracy theories, but each time, his scheme is foiled when he turns out to be accidentally correct. He really is psychic; he can perform real hypnosis; it's really aliens. Ghos...
Have there been times in your life when you experienced an emotion due to circumstances you were already in, and then someone spoke to you, and you retroactivel...
Have there been times in your life when you experienced an emotion due to circumstances you were already in, and then someone spoke to you, and you retroactively perceived the words as the cause of that emotion? For examples:
Feel anger -> interpret words as demands.
Feel guilt -> interpret words as criticisms.
Feel fear -> interpret words as threats.
Feel shame -> interpret words as dismissal.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Feb. 20, 2015 7:03 PM
Frequently.
selki on Feb. 21, 2015 8:03 ...
Lakes Of Fire people: Help me out. I was planning to get a ticket, but I'm really struggling with a feeling of dread about attending a camping event. Whenever I...
Lakes Of Fire people: Help me out. I was planning to get a ticket, but I'm really struggling with a feeling of dread about attending a camping event. Whenever I hear about Burning Man and its regional satellite events ("Burns"), the complaints are specific (and devastatingly severe), but the praise is vague. Can you tell a story about something that happened to you at a Burn that was good, that would not happen just by staying home?
For a person who dislikes the outdoors, camping, bodi...
If your relationship style is adventurous, you're journeying down a road less traveled, with only vague maps. There's nothing wrong with spending your life in a...
If your relationship style is adventurous, you're journeying down a road less traveled, with only vague maps. There's nothing wrong with spending your life in a hobbit hole, playing it safe, and doing what everyone has always done. But my friend, when you're an explorer, trying to reach as far as you can into the extents of what you and your partners can enjoy-- then... then. You're up in the high country.
Think of it this way. You and your partners (when you have partners) are in an adventuring...
I have been told that I need the following things for my first trip to Pennsic in a week and a half (August 1-4). Part 1- Things I still need to obtain include:...
I have been told that I need the following things for my first trip to Pennsic in a week and a half (August 1-4). Part 1- Things I still need to obtain include:
• Tent
• Air mattress
• Tarp
• Tent floor: picnic blankets/rugs (probably unnecessary)
• Snacks: meat sticks, beef jerky, granola bars
• Comfortable shoes for lots of walking
• Feast gear (I don't even know what this means)
• Knife
• Water bottle
• Flash light
• Dirty laundry hamper (optional)
Things I do not need to obtain include:
• Cl...
We can't level a playing field by pretending it's already level. The laser cutter that I use is frequently mis-aligned, and cuts poorly unless I level the platf...
We can't level a playing field by pretending it's already level. The laser cutter that I use is frequently mis-aligned, and cuts poorly unless I level the platform. Imagine if I keep getting bad lasering jobs, and instead of leveling the platform, I get mad because I feel all defensive and accused. "I'm in favor of a level playing field! I'm not the sort of person who pushes it out of level! Why would I do that?"
This is why there are two definitions of racism and sexism. By one defini...
Friday night, 8PM: FoolMoon, a parade of luminary sculptures on Washington Street at Main Street. It's a branch of FestiFools, an event two days later.
Saturday...
Friday night, 8PM: FoolMoon, a parade of luminary sculptures on Washington Street at Main Street. It's a branch of FestiFools, an event two days later.
Saturday afternoon, noon to 5PM: Work on the TuxTrax site for Penguicon, at All Hands Active hackerspace, 525 E Liberty. Lunch is provided to developers.
Saturday evening, 6PM: Nerdsplosion, a concert of nerd music at Cavern Club on 1st Street at Washington, sponsored by Penguicon.
Sunday evening, 5PM: FestiFools, a glorious parade of giant puppe...
I'm presenting or leading the following events at Penguicon this year:
Friday 6PM: Developing Software For Penguicon
Penguicon has begun to host hackathons year...
I'm presenting or leading the following events at Penguicon this year:
Friday 6PM: Developing Software For Penguicon
Penguicon has begun to host hackathons year-round to develop software to help organize this convention. Please join us at the whiteboard! Developers and interested stake holders will meet to discuss the project’s purpose, stack, and next steps. Look at the user stories in the readme and the flowchart image in the wiki: https://github.com/MattArnold/penguicontrax
Saturday 2PM: Peng...
I'm exhausted and happy. See my last blog post for background info on what I'm talking about. Eighteen developers attended. This weekend, we accomplished the fo...
I'm exhausted and happy. See my last blog post for background info on what I'm talking about. Eighteen developers attended. This weekend, we accomplished the following:
Got a consensus on our technology stack, and the direction we want to go.
Learned how to develop with technologies some of us were previously unfamiliar with.
Completed the functionality for anyone to sign in using an account they already have on another site.
Gave Staff users the ability to move an event suggestion through stat...
Here are some of the pain points we hope to solve by creating a scheduling web app for Penguicon. Come out and help us this weekend! More details at: penguicamp...
Here are some of the pain points we hope to solve by creating a scheduling web app for Penguicon. Come out and help us this weekend! More details at: penguicamp.com
1. Errors And Hassle From Data Duplication
For years, Penguicon has planned the schedule using two systems, and kept them in sync manually.
In a spreadsheet, we represent rooms as columns, and times as rows, so we can catch conflicts. But it doesn't store the event description, the topics, whether or not it is "just an idea"...
I recently attended Code Crafters Saturdays and was talking to the guy who runs it, telling him how many RSVPs we have for the upcoming Pre-Penguicon Code Sprin...
I recently attended Code Crafters Saturdays and was talking to the guy who runs it, telling him how many RSVPs we have for the upcoming Pre-Penguicon Code Sprint. (More info at penguicamp.com.) He said generally, it's safe to say about half the people who RSVP for a coding event will show up. The Code Sprint Facebook page currently has 17 "Yes" and 17 "Maybe", for a total of 34. Three attendees are not on Facebook, so that comes to 37. Half of 37 is eighteen, so that's half a...
I admit I spent most of Sunday playing CivClicker. It's yet another game in the "Idle Game" genre-- games that play themselves with barely any player ...
I admit I spent most of Sunday playing CivClicker. It's yet another game in the "Idle Game" genre-- games that play themselves with barely any player interaction. This one adjusts that premise somewhat, because if you don't have sufficient stockpiles for your people to weather plagues or invasions when you walk away from the computer, it is possible for your civilization to crash before you get back.
A Dark Room is the obvious inspiration, though CivClicker lacks the beautiful prose st...
I liked the vast majority of 2013. I'm less happy than I was a year ago, but most things are cyclical. My circumstances are on an upward trajectory, overall.
I ...
I liked the vast majority of 2013. I'm less happy than I was a year ago, but most things are cyclical. My circumstances are on an upward trajectory, overall.
I had career and relationship milestones this year. I got a job as a software developer, and as a result, started spending a lot of my time in Ann Arbor. Today I finally achieved a savings goal that I've had for nearly a decade, and will probably stay above it even after this month's projected expenses.
The main reason for me to select one ...
Kelly Birke mentioned it would be great to have access to a computerized automated embroidery machine. Twenty minutes later, I got Jen to donate hers to i3Detro...
Kelly Birke mentioned it would be great to have access to a computerized automated embroidery machine. Twenty minutes later, I got Jen to donate hers to i3Detroit if we'd cover the shipping cost. Twenty minutes after that, I had taken up a collection and raised $140. It now sits in i3Detroit's craft room! Maybe we can make Nerd Merit Badges for Penguicon!
Comments
wyndsung on Dec. 12, 2013 4:56 PM
You know Birke is my SCA name and not my last name, yes? :)
This is fun! I've never had access to ...
Games I don't own:
Caylus,
Puzzle Strike: Shadows,
Ticket To Ride: Heart of Africa,
Copycat,
Trains,
Lords of Waterdeep,
Dominion: Team Variant,
Nanobots,
In th...
Games I don't own:
Caylus,
Puzzle Strike: Shadows,
Ticket To Ride: Heart of Africa,
Copycat,
Trains,
Lords of Waterdeep,
Dominion: Team Variant,
Nanobots,
In the Year of the Dragon,
Monad,
Glory to Rome Black Box Edition,
Suburbia,
Alien Frontiers,
Fealty,
King of Tokyo,
Qin,
Eminent Domain,
Seasons
Games I own:
Thurn & Taxis,
Tokaido,
Tahiti,
Dominion (Guilds, Hinterlands, Prosperity, Dark Ages, & Promo cards)
Comments
eviljohn on Sep. 17, 2013 12:32 AM
Nice! That's a lot of games even...
I've been using Mint and Pocketsmith. You give them access to read your bank account transactions, and they provide the friendly front end user interface that b...
I've been using Mint and Pocketsmith. You give them access to read your bank account transactions, and they provide the friendly front end user interface that banks lack, including charts of your spending trends. Each service has strengths and weaknesses.
Mint.com is mostly good at tracking and categorizing your expenses. I love its handy mobile app to manually record and categorize cash transactions as they happen. It give you a cash balance "account" based on your ATM withdrawals, an...
I prepared for this year's tournament more meticulously than any before, but got a worse outcome than ever before. Contestants: I hear you, I understand exactly...
I prepared for this year's tournament more meticulously than any before, but got a worse outcome than ever before. Contestants: I hear you, I understand exactly what caused this, I have a plan to fix it, and it will never happen again. Previously, I have never had such space constraints that I would have to make it clear to the programming team that my event needed tables empty for an hour beforehand to set up the tournament. That was my downfall.
The sign-up sheet was almost full. The tournamen...
I am presenting in the following events at Penguicon:
Friday, 8 PM: Sci Fi on the Radio
Come attend a live dramatic reading of several early century radio scrip...
I am presenting in the following events at Penguicon:
Friday, 8 PM: Sci Fi on the Radio
Come attend a live dramatic reading of several early century radio scripts! Close your eyes and use your imagination, and allow our talented voice actors and foley artists to create terrors and intrigue!
Friday, 9 PM: Vinyl Cutting Demo
Your own custom design would be way better for your car window than stick figures of your family, or Calvin peeing on things you hate. This class will explain and demo how to:...
The French illustrator Naiade is my favorite game artist. FunForge has started cranking out games that immediately grab my attention with his art. So naturally,...
The French illustrator Naiade is my favorite game artist. FunForge has started cranking out games that immediately grab my attention with his art. So naturally, Tokaido caught my eye.
This is a game that moves quickly, and only takes about forty-five minutes.
It has a very light and non-violent tone. This is a game of vacation planning. You attempt to have as good a trip as possible along the East Sea Road ("Tōkaidō") in medieval Japan. Eat sumptuous meals, view gorgeous panoramas, buy...
Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly suggest we may have found our next Penguicon Hack of Honor. Not to mention that the creator of this device is renowned in the har...
Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly suggest we may have found our next Penguicon Hack of Honor. Not to mention that the creator of this device is renowned in the hardware hacking community and is GoH-worthy in her own right.
Comments
none
Minutes ago, I was in the final elimination round of the Dominion tournament. I was in a 3-player rather than 4-player game, so that was easier on us. The cards...
Minutes ago, I was in the final elimination round of the Dominion tournament. I was in a 3-player rather than 4-player game, so that was easier on us. The cards were mostly from the Seaside expansion, which my opponents had never played, and which I've been playing for years.
I noticed they both bought Outposts, widely considered one of the worst cards in the game.
I used Ambassador to put my least useful cards into my opponents' decks, and Salvager to recycle the rest for money. This left me wi...
I noticed some of yesterday's laser cutter pledgers are from MakerWorks in Ann Arbor, as one of their members put this pledge drive on the Shop Mates mailing li...
I noticed some of yesterday's laser cutter pledgers are from MakerWorks in Ann Arbor, as one of their members put this pledge drive on the Shop Mates mailing list. We now have 22 pledgers.
Not even one person has filled out the "$0" option in the questionnaire yet, so who knows? If you haven't pledged zero dollars, maybe you're still going to pledge a few bucks! If you're one of those, is the two-thirds mark what you were waiting for? Because we passed the $4,000 dollar mark yesterday!...
I'm running a fundraiser for i3Detroit to buy our own laser cutter for $6,000. We have raised $2,560, and the first day of the fundraiser is not even over yet!
...
I'm running a fundraiser for i3Detroit to buy our own laser cutter for $6,000. We have raised $2,560, and the first day of the fundraiser is not even over yet!
And here's why maybe you should chip in a few bucks. I will laser-cut a project of your choice from Thingiverse (laser-cutter projects only-- wood or chipboard will be substituted for acrylic), and ship the parts to you, with your name engraved in it if you want. A TARDIS, unique booklet cover, Settlers of Catan board that locks in place,...
I should frequently repost the comments that I make on interesting OKCupid questions. Today's question: "Would the world be a better place if people with l...
I should frequently repost the comments that I make on interesting OKCupid questions. Today's question: "Would the world be a better place if people with low IQs were not allowed to reproduce?" No.
Taking the value of reproductive liberty as a given, there are also more complex and surprising reasons to reject this measure.
Suppose one's reason for supporting this measure is to get a smarter population of offspring. Those who know anything about genetics know that is not how it works. ...
This research (PDF) shows those who get more happiness from their money...
(1) buy more experiences and fewer material goods; (2) use their money to benefit ot...
This research (PDF) shows those who get more happiness from their money...
(1) buy more experiences and fewer material goods; (2) use their money to benefit others rather than themselves; (3) buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones; (4) eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance; (5) delay consumption; (6) consider how peripheral features of their purchases may affect their day-to-day lives; (7) beware of comparison shopping; and (8) pay close attention to ...
Friday, 11:00pm: Polyamory Primer -- Polyamory is the concept and practice of being in multiple romantic relationships at the same time, with the knowledge and ...
Friday, 11:00pm: Polyamory Primer -- Polyamory is the concept and practice of being in multiple romantic relationships at the same time, with the knowledge and consent of all parties involved. This diverse panel of poly educators and enthusiasts will share their experiences, and more importantly, answer your questions about polyamory! (Brent Barker, Matt Arnold, Melissa Gilchrist, Sofia Maystrenko)
Saturday, 11:00am: Penguicon Board Meeting -- The Penguicon Board is not the same thing as the Con...
MAPS.GOOGLE.COM HAS A QUEST MODE! THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!
Comments
selki on Apr. 1, 2012 2:38 PM
I drilled down all the way to Washington, DC and saw two tour...
MAPS.GOOGLE.COM HAS A QUEST MODE! THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!
Comments
selki on Apr. 1, 2012 2:38 PM
I drilled down all the way to Washington, DC and saw two tourists with beanie propeller hats walking by the White House! Then I drilled down to where my townhouse should be (it just shows a lot of green).
shoubushi on Apr. 1, 2012 7:48 PM
Yeah, I remember playing Dragon Quest/Warrior so long ago and when I saw that, I had laughed hard. I especially like the video that went with it (to fix bugs, bl...
Well, it happened again. Someone sent me a job ad working as a graphic designer for a company that I really like, and I had a full-blown attack of something. A ...
Well, it happened again. Someone sent me a job ad working as a graphic designer for a company that I really like, and I had a full-blown attack of something. A panic attack? A freak-out? I don't know what to call it. I would really like to get to the bottom of this weird phenomenon that happens to me when I read job ads.
I have a co-worker who keeps asking me why on earth, with all my talents, I'm doing unskilled labor for barely more than minimum wage. This is why.
The irony is that the job ad ...
Is one of you available to pick me up from St John Macomb Oakland Hospital after work on Friday, February 10? I also need a ride back on Saturday to get my car....
Is one of you available to pick me up from St John Macomb Oakland Hospital after work on Friday, February 10? I also need a ride back on Saturday to get my car.
Comments
none
I believe you will find the advice in this post useful, even if you are happily married. It may help you strengthen your relationship. I want you to avoid the w...
I believe you will find the advice in this post useful, even if you are happily married. It may help you strengthen your relationship. I want you to avoid the wrong expectations about marriage. Don't assume a wedding changes a relationship for the better. You are making a cost-benefit tradeoff. If you think you are just trading up a relationship status for a better one, you will be unprepared for the costs, and will be unhappy.
But first, you want to know why you should read advice about marriag...
It was pointed out to me that Kit's memorial entry is friend-locked. I've stopped reading me and Reesa's old IM logs and leaking from the eyes long enough that ...
It was pointed out to me that Kit's memorial entry is friend-locked. I've stopped reading me and Reesa's old IM logs and leaking from the eyes long enough that I have some of my own things to say.
Reesa was fascinating; and she was interested in interesting things.
I don't talk much about past or present partners; but anyone with whom I have privately discussed Reesa knows that I pretty much glow about her, and that I'm not just praising her now because of the circumstances. She gave of herself ...
Kit says it better than I could.
Goodbye, Reesa. :(
[Edited to link to kitoconnell.com]
Comments
nicegeek on Jan. 14, 2012 3:02 AM
The linked entry appears to ...
Kit says it better than I could.
Goodbye, Reesa. :(
[Edited to link to kitoconnell.com]
Comments
nicegeek on Jan. 14, 2012 3:02 AM
The linked entry appears to be private.
parslaanna on Jan. 14, 2012 3:31 PM
If you backtrack to todfox's main LJ page, he has a link to his unlocked blog, which it appears he considers his "real" page and LJ is cross-posted from.
parslaanna on (None)
todfox on Jan. 14, 2012 6:33 PM
Yeah my LJ entries are friends locked but my blog isn't.
http://kitoconn...
Sorry for the delay, but Penguicon 2012 has a website now! For some reason, nobody could get the new custom CMS working on Penguicon's server. They finally sett...
Sorry for the delay, but Penguicon 2012 has a website now! For some reason, nobody could get the new custom CMS working on Penguicon's server. They finally settled for Wordpress, but it still uses many art elements from the design I made nine months ago. It's something to build on! Also, you may have heard Penguicon's absentee conchair resigned, and there is a new one. Well, I had to remind myself hardly anything has ever gotten done until January anyway. Let's all award a million Internets to C...
I just encountered the word "offended" again, spoken in a public relations apology. "Offended" is a word that takes facts off the table, and...
I just encountered the word "offended" again, spoken in a public relations apology. "Offended" is a word that takes facts off the table, and centers the conversation on subjective reactions. "I apologize for offending you." Translation: "I'm right, but I'm willing to lie and pretend to agree with you because your emotional reaction is more important to me than facts. Later, I'll complain in private over cigars and scotch about how political correctness is press...
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is reviled in some circles for being about date rape. If you're interested, I would like to explain why this interpretation ...
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is reviled in some circles for being about date rape. If you're interested, I would like to explain why this interpretation is perfectly reasonable depending on what lens you look through, and at the end, discuss something I learned about lenses.
To start with, let's face it. Mid-twentieth century America was not a sterling example of sexual equality. But they were too wholesome to accept a song about a woman being roofied and date-raped. Times really have to ...
Remember when I learned Motion Capture Animation? Let's just I got an opportunity yesterday which I had to turn down. I had been really excited about it at firs...
Remember when I learned Motion Capture Animation? Let's just I got an opportunity yesterday which I had to turn down. I had been really excited about it at first. My heart kind of broke. I guess that's all that would be appropriate to talk about here. Ask me some time.
Comments
blue-duck on Dec. 1, 2011 12:20 PM
:-(
selki on Dec. 1, 2011 2:29 PM
Sorry to hear that.
One of the best rules of thumb for successful gift-giving is "don't make this weird". If you're the receiver, don't act like the giver was obligated t...
One of the best rules of thumb for successful gift-giving is "don't make this weird". If you're the receiver, don't act like the giver was obligated to give it. If you're the giver, don't act like you are creating an obligation for the receiver. If either of these are true, it wasn't a gift.
If you give a gift, and you're upset because something didn't happen that you thought was supposed to happen, just don't give the gift again. If you announce you're not giving the gift again becaus...
Wow! I just answered the door in my bathrobe to find three police officers. A neighbor saw me pull in and thought they heard me kick in the door.
I don't mind. ...
Wow! I just answered the door in my bathrobe to find three police officers. A neighbor saw me pull in and thought they heard me kick in the door.
I don't mind. I'm glad to know the police are responsive in case someone does try to kick in the door.
Comments
blue-duck on Nov. 26, 2011 1:26 PM
Did you have trouble opening the door, or what?
matt-arnold on Nov. 26, 2011 1:47 PM
No; it went normally. I don't remember any kind of loud noise, either.
matt-arnold on Nov. 28, 2011 12:22 AM
I realized...
I achieved a short-term life goal on Saturday, by becoming a member of the i3Detroit hacker space. I just let myself in with my key. It's the first time I've be...
I achieved a short-term life goal on Saturday, by becoming a member of the i3Detroit hacker space. I just let myself in with my key. It's the first time I've been alone in here. Let's get this party started, people! Come on over, members and guests alike! 1481 Wordsworth in Ferndale.
Comments
atropis on Nov. 23, 2011 3:44 PM
yay!
trav13369 on Nov. 27, 2011 10:43 PM
and why does the phrase "keys to the henhouse" come to mind? LOL
Does anyone local have some Lite-Brite pegs they want to give away?
Comments
skintwospud on Nov. 21, 2011 1:37 AM
actually.. yes, we have a ton of these. Some ...
Does anyone local have some Lite-Brite pegs they want to give away?
Comments
skintwospud on Nov. 21, 2011 1:37 AM
actually.. yes, we have a ton of these. Some of the newer fangled ones that also were letters, and like.. rods with two on the ends, but also the old school ones. They never worked as well as I remember them working back in the day- i think these are early 90's era ones. Let me know if those would work, I could give you at least a little bag of 'em..
matt-arnold on Nov. 21, 2011 1:...
Hypothes.is has raised $70,000, and will only be funded if they raise the remaining $30,000 in the next 3 days. I gave what I could. Is this something you'd con...
Hypothes.is has raised $70,000, and will only be funded if they raise the remaining $30,000 in the next 3 days. I gave what I could. Is this something you'd consider donating ten bucks to? Or more? If the goal is not met, your funds will not be charged.
Comments
none
I moved in with Nate B from i3Detroit. To my surprise, I'm right across the street from my friend and former Penguicon Head of Programming Bill K. This house ha...
I moved in with Nate B from i3Detroit. To my surprise, I'm right across the street from my friend and former Penguicon Head of Programming Bill K. This house has a lot of empty space for tables and chairs, and is in a great location. I think it's going to work out well.
The current conundrum is how to solve my bed problem. My bed is just a queen box-spring and mattress. These are the only two items I own that I can't fit in my car. I move too often to be so dependent on other vehicles, so I want...
No one gets in line to be your next un-enthusiasm!
Comments
beamjockey on Nov. 4, 2011 2:02 PM
That would make a great bumper sticker if I could understand it....
No one gets in line to be your next un-enthusiasm!
Comments
beamjockey on Nov. 4, 2011 2:02 PM
That would make a great bumper sticker if I could understand it.
matt-arnold on Nov. 4, 2011 10:02 PM
I have realized more and more the value of being publicly excited about things. People will want to get involved. Too high a ratio of complaints gives the impression that if they get involved, they'll be the next thing to be complained about.
I do not draw from this a lesson that we should fake a goo...
Don't forget, tomorrow night is the first evening of the new bi-weekly gaming group at the i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale!
I've been hanging out at i3Detroi...
Don't forget, tomorrow night is the first evening of the new bi-weekly gaming group at the i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale!
I've been hanging out at i3Detroit more and more, now that I have gas and a car again. Right at this moment, I'm co-hosting the Toad Elevating Moment on Dementia Radio with my friend . I have also been laser-cutting stuff in recent days. I served ice cream made with liquid nitrogen at the Halloween party here. It was great! Cabin fever was really getting to me for a whil...
I've been looking forward to Voxatron for a while. And now you can name your own price (even one cent!) to get the alpha version, with free upgrades to all futu...
I've been looking forward to Voxatron for a while. And now you can name your own price (even one cent!) to get the alpha version, with free upgrades to all future versions!
Comments
bedellhyw on (None)
From 7PM tonight until hmmhmmhmm o'clock tomorrow morning, the i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale will have a Halloween party! I'll be there, making and serving...
From 7PM tonight until hmmhmmhmm o'clock tomorrow morning, the i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale will have a Halloween party! I'll be there, making and serving ice cream made with liquid nitrogen.
Comments
none
First and third Thursdays of the month are game night at i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale! We've already got five people who plan to attend regularly. Who's i...
First and third Thursdays of the month are game night at i3Detroit hacker space in Ferndale! We've already got five people who plan to attend regularly. Who's in?
Comments
eviljohn on Oct. 29, 2011 2:50 AM
Neat. It's a drive, but when I can find the time, I'll try to come out. Been meaning to check out i3.
It turns out someone will be at Ann Arbor Gaming Group tonight, at Amer's on State Street in Ann Arbor, 7:30 PM, with a copy of Eminent Domain! (Rules on this p...
It turns out someone will be at Ann Arbor Gaming Group tonight, at Amer's on State Street in Ann Arbor, 7:30 PM, with a copy of Eminent Domain! (Rules on this page.) I can't miss the opportunity to finally play it-- so I plan to be there.
Comments
blackpaladin on Oct. 26, 2011 12:41 PM
I think you'll really like it. I've been pulling my copy out every chance I get since I picked it up a week ago.
matt-arnold on Oct. 27, 2011 3:03 AM
We'll see. It's off to a rocky start. It was very slow-paced ...
My car is fixed! And affordably, too. It was just a leak.
I plan to be at U-Con gaming convention November 11 through 13. It has a new home, at the Metropolitan...
My car is fixed! And affordably, too. It was just a leak.
I plan to be at U-Con gaming convention November 11 through 13. It has a new home, at the Metropolitan Hotel in Romulus near Detroit Metro Airport. I think this is a great move! Check out what they now can offer.
Moving out of the confines of the Union allows us to offer some things we've never had before:
FREE PARKING. Let's say that again: parking for U-Con won't cost anything, and you don't have to worry about tickets! This has been t...
That didn't take long. I guess tomorrow morning when the repair shop opens, I'll find out how much expense I'm looking at. I hope it's less than the amount of m...
That didn't take long. I guess tomorrow morning when the repair shop opens, I'll find out how much expense I'm looking at. I hope it's less than the amount of money I own. Good thing I like buses. :)
Comments
parslaanna on Oct. 22, 2011 1:18 PM
You can start from a stop in second - if you're careful. Which you're not :) (Trans rebuilds are very labor-intensive - not worth it on a car that you paid this little money on to begin with.)
matt-arnold on Oct. 22, 2011 1:28 PM
You mean I can't just r...
I have updated the online game I am developing, Falconers. This time with greater variation... and challenge!
Comments
nicegeek on Oct. 18, 2011 1:28 AM
It see...
I have updated the online game I am developing, Falconers. This time with greater variation... and challenge!
Comments
nicegeek on Oct. 18, 2011 1:28 AM
It seems like there may be a bug; I tried to claim a 4A card, but it wouldn't light up even when I selected four of a kind.
matt-arnold on Oct. 18, 2011 2:29 AM
Was it in the preview area or the available area?
nicegeek on Oct. 18, 2011 2:33 AM
Aha, that was it; I had the two areas backward.
My car broke down a couple of weeks ago for the last time. I donated it to charity and bought a clunker for an irresistible price. The cash-for-clunkers program...
My car broke down a couple of weeks ago for the last time. I donated it to charity and bought a clunker for an irresistible price. The cash-for-clunkers program made it near-miraculous to find a cheap used car, so I jumped on this one.
I can live with the absence of air conditioning, sound system, front grill, and locks. I accept the windsheild wipers turning on whenever I accelerate, the trunk refusing to latch until I've slammed it two or three times, and the lining of the ceiling drooping dow...
Good news! If you support alternative treatments over medicine, there is a good chance you did not contribute to the death of Steve Jobs.
That was lousy. Let me...
Good news! If you support alternative treatments over medicine, there is a good chance you did not contribute to the death of Steve Jobs.
That was lousy. Let me start over.
The role played by alternative treatments in the death of Steve Jobs has been over-emphasized, and is completely uncertain. In 2003, Steve Jobs chose to attempt to treat his cancer with a special diet, and changed his mind after nine months. We actually have no idea whether the following six or seven years of aggressive medic...
This makes me want to cry. Says Brian Dunning, Steve Jobs
...had a rare form called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which is actually quite treatable with ...
This makes me want to cry. Says Brian Dunning, Steve Jobs
...had a rare form called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which is actually quite treatable with excellent survival rates — if caught soon enough. The median survival is about a decade, but it depends on how soon it’s removed surgically. Steve caught his very early, and should have expected to survive much longer than a decade. Unfortunately Steve relied on a naturopathic diet instead of early surgery. There is no evidence that diet ...
The internet has much to say about how superhero comics suck. They're childish, sexist, cliched, and stuck in moribund tradition. Even their reboots just reboot...
The internet has much to say about how superhero comics suck. They're childish, sexist, cliched, and stuck in moribund tradition. Even their reboots just reboot most of the problems. Most people just don't bother reading them; whereas, while I don't read them, I am enough of a nerd to complain about them. Aaron Diaz of the incredible webcomic Dresden Codak blogs his re-design and reboot of the Justice League, and gets it right. Very right. If this comic were published, I would read it.
He also h...
I programmed this dice game to teach myself the JQuery library for Javascript, and to improve my Javascript skills. There will be many more features. If you thi...
I programmed this dice game to teach myself the JQuery library for Javascript, and to improve my Javascript skills. There will be many more features. If you think the current version is neat, you're really going to like it. I'm excited. And oh, yes, the visual design will also improve. But you know what they say: launch with the mimimum viable product.
Shout-outs go to my friends on the Lojban #jbopre IRC channel for their patience in answering my questions: rlpowell, chrisdone, kpreid, and Tene...
I'm selling a fridge on Craigslist. Let me know if you want to buy it.
Comments
sashakovich on Sep. 19, 2011 9:26 PM
Do you have the box? The potential for fri...
I'm selling a fridge on Craigslist. Let me know if you want to buy it.
Comments
sashakovich on Sep. 19, 2011 9:26 PM
Do you have the box? The potential for fridge-box castle should not be overlooked.
pstscrpt on Sep. 20, 2011 1:36 PM
Very likely. Our fridge has been a problem for a long time, and we've been talking about getting a new one.
How big is it? And do you have any leads on a way to move it, or should we plan on a U-Haul van rental as part of the price?
Given how socially proficient I am, many of you express surprise when you discover areas in which I am out of place. But those areas exist.
Tonight I went to a ...
Given how socially proficient I am, many of you express surprise when you discover areas in which I am out of place. But those areas exist.
Tonight I went to a networking event for IT recruiters and job seekers. I emailed the event organizers months ago with my resume, and told them I'd be there. So, even though I got a job yesterday, I went because I RSVP'ed that I would.
One of the organizers saw me writing "web design/dev" on my name tag. He immediately introduced me to a recruiter....
I almost certainly have a job, as an office clerk and phone liaison. I'll know by the end of the week. I'll have money for fuel, so you'll see more of me. After...
I almost certainly have a job, as an office clerk and phone liaison. I'll know by the end of the week. I'll have money for fuel, so you'll see more of me. After I've worked there a few months, my hours will go up from 40 to 54 hours a week. Then you'll see somewhat less of me.
(It's in Warren, so I'll have to move. Again. For the time being, I'm living out of a suitcase in Warren and only going home to Whitmore Lake on weekends. Whitmore Lake is an hour away, so that doesn't work. I have been br...
Disclaimer: I'm just engaging in a thought experiment here, to practice my skills. I'm not saying we should change. A few years back, some people decided to mak...
Disclaimer: I'm just engaging in a thought experiment here, to practice my skills. I'm not saying we should change. A few years back, some people decided to make an official Penguicon logo, and spent a lot of money to print it on window clings. They're committed to follow through on that investment to consistently associate our convention with that logo. The conchair confirmed it was too soon for an update. What's done is done, so that's that. Here is the official logo they made:
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A recruiter just called to offer me a long-term contract job, based on keywords in my resume. Then she retracted the offer halfway through the phone call when s...
A recruiter just called to offer me a long-term contract job, based on keywords in my resume. Then she retracted the offer halfway through the phone call when she read my resume.
Fortunately she was happy to answer my questions and give me advice on how to change my resume. She even gave me a job lead to follow up on. It's an internship, in Royal Oak.
Comments
parslaanna on Aug. 23, 2011 8:10 PM
Wow, that was pretty crummy of her.
skintwospud on Aug. 25, 2011 3:40 AM
Actually, not so crummy. S...
In response to How To Choose A Web Designer In Five Easy Steps, I have changed my professional website's call to action to read as follows:
Contact me and let'...
In response to How To Choose A Web Designer In Five Easy Steps, I have changed my professional website's call to action to read as follows:
Contact me and let's talk about why you have a website or publication, and what it can do for your business.
I intend to add more and more copy to that site to reflect this.
Comments
stormgren on Aug. 22, 2011 6:42 PM
This might be a strange question, but...
Isn't something like that quintessentially anti-Matt-Arnold?
I recall you writing against this a f...
I'm packing the last carload while moving out of Royal Oak. Looking around this room, I am filled with a rush of beautiful memories. I have had one of the most ...
I'm packing the last carload while moving out of Royal Oak. Looking around this room, I am filled with a rush of beautiful memories. I have had one of the most memorable years of my life here. The people local to here have provided a wonderful social life. My roommate is a good friend and we get along really well. And who can forget the hacker space?
I like to keep a positive outlook, but it's a stressful time right now. There are a variety of things that could work out, and many of them probabl...
It is a maxim and an axiom that many (if not perhaps most) highly-anticipated games arrive a couple of months later than the predicted date. That's normal. Howe...
It is a maxim and an axiom that many (if not perhaps most) highly-anticipated games arrive a couple of months later than the predicted date. That's normal. However, a few weeks ago my curiosity was piqued that, nearing the end of July, we do not even know the name of the sixth Dominion expansion, despite the fact that it is intended for an October release. This does not track with the pre-release timetable of any previous expansion.
Not that I'm complaining, but I can't help be curious. I found ...
Over the years, I came to realize that my best work has always involved subjects that interested me, or -- even better -- subjects about which I've become inter...
Over the years, I came to realize that my best work has always involved subjects that interested me, or -- even better -- subjects about which I've become interested, and even passionate about, through the very process of doing design work. I believe I'm still passionate about graphic design. But the great thing about graphic design is that it is almost always about something else. Corporate law. Professional football. Art. Politics. Robert Wilson. And if I can't get excited about whatever that ...
I'm home now. I spent yesterday on Greyhound buses between Philadelphia and Detroit. When passengers asked if we had the much-vaunted outlets and Wifi, the driv...
I'm home now. I spent yesterday on Greyhound buses between Philadelphia and Detroit. When passengers asked if we had the much-vaunted outlets and Wifi, the driver said "no". Ours was just about the last trip on this route not to use the refurbished buses. All the same, I really like bus travel.
While in Philadelphia, I commented that I wished I had known in advance so I could see a friend there. Andy made some comment about me knowing somebody in every city.
During a layover, I texted ...
I shouldn't have said I had the contract job until the contract was signed. They need to move me on to a different project, one which starts next week. They dec...
I shouldn't have said I had the contract job until the contract was signed. They need to move me on to a different project, one which starts next week. They decided it was crucial to have my first project done a few days ago, so they had someone else throw it together while I was still reading up on how APIs work.
Comments
none
We left Saturday afternoon, and accepted an invitation from my friend Sarah Elkins to stay at her place in Maryland Saturday night. Sarah gave me a free XO subn...
We left Saturday afternoon, and accepted an invitation from my friend Sarah Elkins to stay at her place in Maryland Saturday night. Sarah gave me a free XO subnotebook PC-- a creation of the "one laptop per child" project. I have wanted one for years! Sarah is a great enthusiast of OLPC. Her friends kept giving them to her, so now she has five. It has already been really useful to me as an e-book reader. When you turn the screen to black-and-white mode, it's easy to read in the sunligh...
I've been hired to build a website. It will contain a form through which users can submit a description of a web services API which conforms to constraints of R...
I've been hired to build a website. It will contain a form through which users can submit a description of a web services API which conforms to constraints of REST. Users can define a set of HTTP request messages, and the structure of JSON response messages. (Just JSON. He specifically said I don't have to care about XML at this stage.) I'm supposed to define a database schema that encompasses as many APIs as possible that a client could ask for, so long as it falls within those constraints.
I h...
I have a contract with a specific dollar figure and date, with two more described after that. Things are looking good.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Aug. 12, 2011 ...
I have a contract with a specific dollar figure and date, with two more described after that. Things are looking good.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Aug. 12, 2011 2:00 AM
Congrats.
matt-arnold on Aug. 12, 2011 8:38 PM
Thank you!
sarahmichigan on Aug. 12, 2011 1:29 PM
yay!
matt-arnold on Aug. 12, 2011 8:38 PM
Indeed! There is much rejoicing.
jeffreyab on Aug. 12, 2011 8:30 PM
Congratulations!
matt-arnold on Aug. 12, 2011 8:38 PM
Thanks!
We made it to Richmond just after midnight. It didn't take long for me to find the local hackerspace, Hack.RVA. I plan to go to their open work night tonight.
M...
We made it to Richmond just after midnight. It didn't take long for me to find the local hackerspace, Hack.RVA. I plan to go to their open work night tonight.
My friend's plans are in flux because his various interviews are rescheduling and he's getting new ones in new places. Massachusetts, which was supposed to be today, is postponed to Monday. If his trip extends too much, it might turn out to be necessary for him to send me back via Greyhound next week so I can meet my moving-out deadline of...
I'm in a McDonald's in Toledo, waiting for confirmation of whether the Massachussets leg of the trip will happen.
I may have some down time in various cities. N...
I'm in a McDonald's in Toledo, waiting for confirmation of whether the Massachussets leg of the trip will happen.
I may have some down time in various cities. Now I'm thinking about where to go and what to look for if I'm looking to make friends with strangers and find out if they know of any local web design/development work. Any ideas?
Comments
trav13369 on Aug. 10, 2011 9:35 PM
Can't help ya there. All I can do is wish you safe travels!
While at GenCon in Indianapolis, a friend of mine set up an impromptu job interview for me. It's with a company who works remotely-- the whole team works in dif...
While at GenCon in Indianapolis, a friend of mine set up an impromptu job interview for me. It's with a company who works remotely-- the whole team works in different states, programming medical information systems. So it doesn't matter where I live. They said they definitely want to bring me on to do the front-end programming of the design and user interface. They'll give me a freelance contract job first, and if that works out, make me an employee. (I feel much more comfortable with a "tr...
The title says it all.
Comments
atropis on Aug. 1, 2011 1:33 AM
interesting about bad drawing being due to the laziness of brains and the recognizable qualitie...
The title says it all.
Comments
atropis on Aug. 1, 2011 1:33 AM
interesting about bad drawing being due to the laziness of brains and the recognizable qualities of symbolism.
reflective of your comment that evolution only looks for 'good enough' rather than 'superlative'. all a symbol has to do is get a point across.
reflexive oversimplification seems to be a regrettable side effect of prioritizing efficiency.
this, too: "Concepts can disadvantage us (and benefit us) in some ways because t...
I had a follow-up job interview today. If hired, I'll move to Whitmore Lake. If not hired, I'll move to Clarkston.
Comments
blue-duck on Jul. 29, 2011 11:27 PM...
I had a follow-up job interview today. If hired, I'll move to Whitmore Lake. If not hired, I'll move to Clarkston.
Comments
blue-duck on Jul. 29, 2011 11:27 PM
Why clarkston?
matt-arnold on Jul. 29, 2011 11:39 PM
I've had multiple offers; these are two of them. Each comes with benefits and costs. The benefits in Whitmore Lake are higher (particularly, being close to the job), but the costs in Clarkston are lower.
blue-duck on Jul. 30, 2011 4:49 AM
I grew up in Clarkston. It's a nice place. :-...
My web development certificate!
Comments
onemorethanten on Jul. 20, 2011 4:05 AM — WEB development certificate in THE MAIL!
I'm not even an "internet hips...
My web development certificate!
Comments
onemorethanten on Jul. 20, 2011 4:05 AM — WEB development certificate in THE MAIL!
I'm not even an "internet hipster" and I find that "ironic".
sarahmichigan on Jul. 21, 2011 3:18 PM
congrats!
From time to time I melt plasticine in a pot on a hot plate with an electric mixer, either to mix colors, or to get a consistent color from discarded crumbs. El...
From time to time I melt plasticine in a pot on a hot plate with an electric mixer, either to mix colors, or to get a consistent color from discarded crumbs. ElfinWorks is hiring me to do some illustrations for a card game, and I decided to sculpt and photograph them instead of paint them this time, so I got out my equipment. But my hot plate and mixer are so old and busted, they barely operate any more. The plasticene isn't melting, and the mixer grinds and whirs. They were second-hand even all...
Found via Hacker News. "...procrastination, in my experience, is not a character flaw, but instead evidence that you don’t have a believable plan for succe...
Found via Hacker News. "...procrastination, in my experience, is not a character flaw, but instead evidence that you don’t have a believable plan for succeeding at what you’re trying to do."
“Why are we going to expend so much precious energy?”, it asks.
The more modern, abstract-reasoning, rational part of the student’s brain is quick to respond: “Because we need to expend this energy to pass the test which we need to earn our degree!”
“What the hell is a ‘degree’ and why do we need ...
I've watched people establish norms in their communities and organizations. I've done some of it myself. Here's what I have seen work: Never leave, never shut u...
I've watched people establish norms in their communities and organizations. I've done some of it myself. Here's what I have seen work: Never leave, never shut up for long, keep questioning yourself and looking at the viewpoint of others, and make sure to contribute. The first person to take their ball and go home loses. Those who remain define the culture of the organization or community.
A community always belongs to those who act like "this place belongs to me as much as anyone, and I'm n...
Greta Christina, while discussing the sexism kerfuffle at an atheist conference, brings up a commonality among various forms of consciousness-raising.
...in pa...
Greta Christina, while discussing the sexism kerfuffle at an atheist conference, brings up a commonality among various forms of consciousness-raising.
...in particular, I want to address the people who have been asking the question, "Why do we have to keep having these fights? Why is it that every time there's an atheist conference, there's some kerfuffle about sexist comments or actions, and everyone flies into a tizzy about it, and it's the only thing anyone remembers about the event?&qu...
Protospiel was fantastic. I got a lot of excellent feedback on Falconers. I also played several extremely promising games-- including one which will be publishe...
Protospiel was fantastic. I got a lot of excellent feedback on Falconers. I also played several extremely promising games-- including one which will be published, to which I am now attached as illustrator.
One of the highlights of the weekend was a Q&A with a representative from LudoFact, a game manufacturer in Kalamazoo. I got to ask questions I have wondered about for years.
- What are the standard sizes for sheets of cardstock? How many cards can fit on them in standard European board gam...
Congratulations to Andy Agard, the winner of the Protospiel 2011 card game design contest, with his game "Card Farmers"!
Congratulations also to me fo...
Congratulations to Andy Agard, the winner of the Protospiel 2011 card game design contest, with his game "Card Farmers"!
Congratulations also to me for being selected to provide illustration and design for the winning game!
Comments
parslaanna on Jul. 10, 2011 7:11 PM
Very cool!
albogdan on Jul. 11, 2011 12:24 AM
Excellent! They have good taste in art and design.
Somebody on LessWrong.org decided to make an RSS feed called "Actually Useful Horoscopes". Each AUH is advice that is applicable to every person every...
Somebody on LessWrong.org decided to make an RSS feed called "Actually Useful Horoscopes". Each AUH is advice that is applicable to every person every day, but its purpose is to give non-vague reminders about teachable rationality skills.
Every day, there is an option to vote on the previous day's horoscope, rating it as 'harmful', 'useless', 'sort of useful', 'useful', or 'awesome'.
The author mentioned that it would be kind of like a spaced repetition algorithm that I have used so ...
Does anyone in Ann Arbor have a couch I can sleep on Friday and/or Saturday night? Protospiel is this weekend and I'd rather not drive a full round trip every d...
Does anyone in Ann Arbor have a couch I can sleep on Friday and/or Saturday night? Protospiel is this weekend and I'd rather not drive a full round trip every day.
Comments
eviljohn on Jul. 9, 2011 3:12 PM
Sure. GO is close by, I can see if the guest room in the Common House is available. Otherwise I have a spare bed in the (spidery) basement...
eviljohn on Jul. 9, 2011 3:19 PM
The guest room was available, I just penciled you in. Let me know if you don't need it.
matt-arnold on Jul. 10, 2011...
This is a staggering story. He sold everything, settled up with everyone, got a hotel room, mailed a letter of explanation to the newspaper, robbed a random ban...
This is a staggering story. He sold everything, settled up with everyone, got a hotel room, mailed a letter of explanation to the newspaper, robbed a random bank for $1, then sat and waited for the police. With multiple ailments making it difficult for him to work, and options such as homeless shelters taking a hit-and-miss chance, he said "I chose jail" for medical care.
Comments
none
I have two free tickets to Origins Game Fair, in Columbus, which is a week from today. They were of no use to me, because I can't afford travel and hotel. Mayfa...
I have two free tickets to Origins Game Fair, in Columbus, which is a week from today. They were of no use to me, because I can't afford travel and hotel. Mayfair Games is paying my way, in exchange for working for them, so that's how I'm able to go. Who wants them?
Comments
none
It's the anniversary of my entry into the cosmos. Spaceship earth has completed its thirty-seventh transit around the sun with me on board. Speaking of annivers...
It's the anniversary of my entry into the cosmos. Spaceship earth has completed its thirty-seventh transit around the sun with me on board. Speaking of anniversaries with the earth, here is a project that I have been watching for several years now: The 10,000 year clock of the Long Now Foundation. This monument is intended to inspire us to think beyond the quarterly business cycle in our decisions. It is a 200-foot-tall clock under a mountain, intended to last more than 10,000 years and measure ...
On a linguistic basis, I would like to ask that I be called an "extremist", "dogmatist", "fanatic", "zealot", or any of ...
On a linguistic basis, I would like to ask that I be called an "extremist", "dogmatist", "fanatic", "zealot", or any of a dozen similar words, rather than "fundamentalist". Before atheism, I spent a quarter-century in fundamentalism, and I know its etymology. Given that I reject loyalty to heritage and tradition, it makes no sense to claim that I call for a return to them.
Comments
tlatoani on Jun. 16, 2011 9:11 PM
You might want to look at the ...
Now that summer is here, it is time for me to voice this complaint. I just cooked a burger, with cheese, tomato, onion, and pickles. It's all over the floor. Wh...
Now that summer is here, it is time for me to voice this complaint. I just cooked a burger, with cheese, tomato, onion, and pickles. It's all over the floor. Why? Because the manufacturers of these buns and frozen patties made them very thick with a small circumference. Burgers should be wide. Not narrow, not tall, not Dagwood. Wide! Wide is stable. Wide is able to provide a platform for tasty goodness to stay on securely. As you cook a burger patty, it shrinks in circumference and thickens dram...
It has been my pleasure to have access to a copy of Portal 2. It is an utterly satisfying game in every respect-- physics puzzles, comedy dialog, storyline, voi...
It has been my pleasure to have access to a copy of Portal 2. It is an utterly satisfying game in every respect-- physics puzzles, comedy dialog, storyline, voice acting, and soundtrack.
Jonathan Coulton does not disappoint with his followup to the hit song he wrote for the first Portal, and the rest of the soundtrack is superb (and available free online).
Stephen Merchant (of the British version of The Office), plays a neurotic "personality sphere" tailor-made for fans of BBC comedy. ...
"The company that you started twenty minutes ago went out of business eight minutes ago?"
"Well yes and no and yes and no and yes and no and yes ...
"The company that you started twenty minutes ago went out of business eight minutes ago?"
"Well yes and no and yes and no and yes and no and yes and no..."
"No."
"No."
"No."
"Yeah."
"We're not out of business because we started up AngelDump LLC fifteen seconds ago."
"As a companion service to ChristMilk Digital which we started up two minutes ago, via Twitter."
Comments
none
Bre Pettis, a founder of Makerbot Industries (which produces machines that print objects), has issued a manifesto of "Done".
There are three states o...
Bre Pettis, a founder of Makerbot Industries (which produces machines that print objects), has issued a manifesto of "Done".
There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
There is no editing stage.
Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
Banish procrastination. If you wait more tha...
I spent the other day making this. Thoughts, creative ideas, and new passive-aggressive things for the computer to say, are welcome in the comments.
more
I spent the other day making this. Thoughts, creative ideas, and new passive-aggressive things for the computer to say, are welcome in the comments.
less
Yes! Slate discusses the trend toward what's called "logical punctuation".
Proofreaders for convention publications tend to call me out on this, but I...
Yes! Slate discusses the trend toward what's called "logical punctuation".
Proofreaders for convention publications tend to call me out on this, but I hold fast:
The computer programmers of the world have presented new legislation to the Emperor of English decreeing-- should his highness choose not to veto it-- that ending commas always fall outside the end quote. It's stuck in legislative committee, but look out for it.
When I put punctuation outside quote marks, it is not by accide...
What do you get when you put a hundred color-changing LEDs around the frame of a trampoline, connect sensors to the springs, and program it to make color patter...
What do you get when you put a hundred color-changing LEDs around the frame of a trampoline, connect sensors to the springs, and program it to make color patterns based on the jumping? A potential Penguicon Hack of Honor, in my opinion!
Comments
none
Is wizards are wonderful things.
Their tops are made out of jokers,
Their bottoms are made out of kings.
They're casty blasty nasty vasty stun stun stun stun st...
Is wizards are wonderful things.
Their tops are made out of jokers,
Their bottoms are made out of kings.
They're casty blasty nasty vasty stun stun stun stun stun.
But the most wonderful thing about wizards
Is I have the only one.
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Would you look over my resume and offer feedback?
Comments
nicegeek on May. 9, 2011 9:15 PM
It feels rather crowded to me. I might bullet-point the items under...
Would you look over my resume and offer feedback?
Comments
nicegeek on May. 9, 2011 9:15 PM
It feels rather crowded to me. I might bullet-point the items under each position, and allow it to span onto a second page.
sarahmichigan on May. 11, 2011 8:50 PM
It's clean, so I like that. Objectives are kinda old school. I don't use them. I like the competencies, though. This long out of undergraduate days, I'd lead with my professional experience and bump education to the bottom.
You remember Steve Eley of Escape Pod. I worked for him for a while as a remote assistant, and longer than that running PodDisc.com. He tweeted a job opening at...
You remember Steve Eley of Escape Pod. I worked for him for a while as a remote assistant, and longer than that running PodDisc.com. He tweeted a job opening at the web development company he now works for.
When I contacted him, he said he'd talk to the higher-ups about whether there was a budget for relocation.
I don't know how to react to that. What is that for? A deposit on a new apartment, I presume? Or a moving truck for the type of person whose belongings do not all fit in his car?
Comment...
Matt Arnold Portfolio Site;
Aromas Artisanal Bakery.
I have now completed all requirements for the Motion Capture Animation certificate and Web Development cert...
Matt Arnold Portfolio Site;
Aromas Artisanal Bakery.
I have now completed all requirements for the Motion Capture Animation certificate and Web Development certificate.
Comments
blackpaladin on May. 6, 2011 8:19 PM
Congrats!
beamjockey on May. 6, 2011 11:21 PM
Hear, hear!
Now what?
matt-arnold on May. 9, 2011 12:03 AM
Well, job hunting. Presumably the job I get will be in Web Development, given the labor market for Motion Capture Animation Technicians.
Traditional themes of rap songs:
"I'm from a bad neighborhood just like you"
"I'm very rich"
"My sex life is incredible"
Penguic...
Traditional themes of rap songs:
"I'm from a bad neighborhood just like you"
"I'm very rich"
"My sex life is incredible"
Penguicon 2011 guest of honor, the hilarious nerdcore rapper M.C. Frontalot, sings about things like this:
"We're overprivileged"
"I'm destitute"
"Women won't sleep with me"
oh man, I try to dodge fans but they keep swarming.
mc frontalot's heart's huge; let's have a housewarming.
I love you so damn much i'll sell...
For those who enjoyed the comparison of programming languages to literature genres, here is and If Programming Languages Were Religions. Silly me, when I read t...
For those who enjoyed the comparison of programming languages to literature genres, here is and If Programming Languages Were Religions. Silly me, when I read the title, I silently wished that Python would be listed as secular. And it was! I find that obscurely pleasing, for no good reason. :)
Bonus:
If Programming Languages Were Music Genres.
If Programming Languages Were Cars.
Comments
claydowling on Apr. 28, 2011 4:42 PM — Funny because it's true
Now I have to get back to my Judaism.
crywol...
An interesting approach to keeping a mailing list, or in-person group, active and desirable. I have noticed on more than one occasion the "bad pushes out g...
An interesting approach to keeping a mailing list, or in-person group, active and desirable. I have noticed on more than one occasion the "bad pushes out good" phenomenon in groups. In a small enough group, which is completely open, the people who I go to see will stop attending because they don't want to be around the people who I don't go to see. Soon, mostly the bad apples and the very forgiving are left. Very few people are willing to un-friend someone, or push someone out of anyth...
I just got this question and thought I'd share the answer.
Do you know of any free or cheap software that will convert a pdf into a typable form? I've been tol...
I just got this question and thought I'd share the answer.
Do you know of any free or cheap software that will convert a pdf into a typable form? I've been told that Acrobat will do it, but I don't need any of the other functionality, so it would be a waste to buy it.
You mean copy-and-pastable form? Actually, Acrobat Pro is pretty poor at it. My favorite way is to Gmail a PDF to myself, and when I receive it, click "View". Then I copy and paste text out of the browser. It usually wo...
I am successfully resisting the urge to chew out a Guest of Honor. "I forgot about you and wouldn't answer your emails until today. But can I put a couple ...
I am successfully resisting the urge to chew out a Guest of Honor. "I forgot about you and wouldn't answer your emails until today. But can I put a couple of talks on the schedule?" Fuck yes you can get on the schedule, and justify the UTTERLY WASTED money we are spending to fly you out. Never mind that the book is due to the printer in two hours. FUCK YOU, CELEBRITY BIG-SHOT. I DO NOT HONOR YOU.
Comments
plasmonicgrid on Apr. 20, 2011 8:10 PM
Should have said "nope, we didn't he...
Sometimes I fantasize about being the head of programming, webservant, program book publisher, and sign-maker for Penguicon, all at the same time.
In theory, ap...
Sometimes I fantasize about being the head of programming, webservant, program book publisher, and sign-maker for Penguicon, all at the same time.
In theory, apprenticing replacements sounds like a great idea. But it would require that they last more than one year to carry forward the training and let me step down. As it is, having anyone other than me do it is just adding re-training and cleaning up messes to my annual workload.
It's that, or publish a book that is not very useful because it's ...
I have received surprisingly few proofreading edits to the schedule. I realized that, although I put the schedule out there, I had not asked specifically for pr...
I have received surprisingly few proofreading edits to the schedule. I realized that, although I put the schedule out there, I had not asked specifically for proofreading except for one's own itinerary of panels. Many of you may have been waiting for it to settle down. It will never settle down, so now is the best possible time to proofread it! I keep finding problems and fixing them one at a time, but I just have no time to sit down for a start-to-end proofread, and I expect I never will. Pleas...
You can [download the PDF](http://cis.hfcc.net/~marnold3/penguicon2011/Penguicon2011SouvenirBook1stDraft.pdf
).
Please proofread it!* If you do, I'll need the r...
You can [download the PDF](http://cis.hfcc.net/~marnold3/penguicon2011/Penguicon2011SouvenirBook1stDraft.pdf
).
Please proofread it!* If you do, I'll need the results by Tuesday. Thanks!
*Except never mind pointing out the red type and partial inaccuracies on the faux scroll bars. I haven't bothered with that because the text is probably going to reflow after the corrections anyway.
Comments
none
Brandon Sanderson, a Mormon, a fantasy author (I'll leave off the easy joke), and Penguicon's Author Guest of Honor, recently took a position similar to mine; t...
Brandon Sanderson, a Mormon, a fantasy author (I'll leave off the easy joke), and Penguicon's Author Guest of Honor, recently took a position similar to mine; that the government should get out of the marriage business. Everyone should just get a civil union, and if you want to also get married, you can get that in any ceremony of your choice. If you're religious, you get it through whatever ceremony your religion involves.
He also claimed that homosexuality is sin; but only a minor impediment t...
The Enrichment Center would like to announce a new employee initiative of forced voluntary participation. Please remember, "science" rhymes with "...
The Enrichment Center would like to announce a new employee initiative of forced voluntary participation. Please remember, "science" rhymes with "compliance"!
Comments
none
I just awoke from a nightmare in which I was in EPCOT's Future World section, but they had torn down:
the Living Seas
Test Track
Mission: Space
The Land
the de...
I just awoke from a nightmare in which I was in EPCOT's Future World section, but they had torn down:
the Living Seas
Test Track
Mission: Space
The Land
the defunct Wonders of Life, and
Innoventions
and replaced them with:
a second pavilion about dinosaurs
Minnie Mouse's house, and
row on row of generic shopping kiosks
The timeshare and other kiosks were spread out in a tombstone pattern reminiscent of the "Leave A Legacy" megaliths at the front entrance. Basically it was an exagge...
"I don't feel safe. I feel violated, humiliated, and angry."
Comments
rjlona on Apr. 11, 2011 7:08 PM
Great. So not looking forward to flying in June...
"I don't feel safe. I feel violated, humiliated, and angry."
Comments
rjlona on Apr. 11, 2011 7:08 PM
Great. So not looking forward to flying in June.
atropis on Apr. 12, 2011 1:03 PM
ugh. omg, tsa. wtf?
seriously, if someone manages to start a substantial movement in favor of non-molestation while traveling, i'm so there i'm not even here anymore.
I am finding the British idiom "couldn't be arsed" very useful in the context of the annual Penguicon programming fail parade.
"...couldn't be ar...
I am finding the British idiom "couldn't be arsed" very useful in the context of the annual Penguicon programming fail parade.
"...couldn't be arsed to tell the presenters before the con when their talks are scheduled."
"...couldn't be arsed to write one sentence for the program book describing a Nifty Guest."
"...couldn't be arsed to respond to the simplest email."
"...couldn't be arsed to read their own itinerary."
"...couldn't be arsed to...
Steve Blank talks about startup culture in Ann Arbor.
Steve Blank is an experienced expert on entrepreneurship, whose excellent blog I have been reading for a l...
Steve Blank talks about startup culture in Ann Arbor.
Steve Blank is an experienced expert on entrepreneurship, whose excellent blog I have been reading for a long while. He summarizes each post with a set of points under "Lessons Learned". He concludes his Ann Arbor article the same way:
U of M has a College of Engineering dean who “gets it”
He’s turned the school into an outward facing school, fostering an entrepreneurial and innovation culture
The Center for Entrepreneurship is on ...
For the past several months, YouTube does not successfully embed in LJ, and Vimeo only works if I use an extremely out-of-date embed code. I haven't got my LJ &...
For the past several months, YouTube does not successfully embed in LJ, and Vimeo only works if I use an extremely out-of-date embed code. I haven't got my LJ "Post an Entry" page set to the WYSIWYG "Rich text" mode. It's always on HTML. But now I clicked "Disable Auto-Formatting" and after the page loaded for nearly a minute, it worked.
Comments
netmouse on Apr. 6, 2011 5:41 PM
Glad you got it to work. And thanks for inviting us! We had a good time.
Video: FestiFools 2011 - Ann Arbor, MI
Comments
rjlona on Apr. 6, 2011 3:14 PM
Um, I see no video here...
matt-arnold on Apr. 6, 2011 4:35 PM
For the past sev...
Video: FestiFools 2011 - Ann Arbor, MI
Comments
rjlona on Apr. 6, 2011 3:14 PM
Um, I see no video here...
matt-arnold on Apr. 6, 2011 4:35 PM
For the past several months, YouTube does not successfully embed in LJ, and Vimeo only works if I use an extremely out-of-date embed code. I haven't got my LJ "Post an Entry" page set to the WYSIWYG "Rich text" mode. It's always on HTML. But now I clicked "Disable Auto-Formatting" and after the page loaded for nearly a minut...
I'm making some changes to the schedule database to make it more publishable, but I need some help going into the online site for the schedule and doing some ea...
I'm making some changes to the schedule database to make it more publishable, but I need some help going into the online site for the schedule and doing some easy stuff that is a lot of busywork. Right now I'm going to get car repairs; then there's Festifools; and on and on. I'm swamped. Anybody want to give me a hand?
Comments
fuzzyjelly on Mar. 31, 2011 4:48 PM
Is it something I can do from home?
matt-arnold on Mar. 31, 2011 4:57 PM
Yes; it's data entry through a web browser.
fuzzyjelly on ...
The megatitan is complete and functioning, except for two of the electronic components. If we had to, we could use it as it is. You've got to come out to Festif...
The megatitan is complete and functioning, except for two of the electronic components. If we had to, we could use it as it is. You've got to come out to Festifools on Sunday and see it in action! 5 PM to 6 PM 4 PM to 5 PM, Main Street in Ann Arbor!
Comments
none
You know that kid? The aspiring artist. We all know one. The one with the sketchbook. The sketchbook's pages are filled with unbelievably kickass scenes of the ...
You know that kid? The aspiring artist. We all know one. The one with the sketchbook. The sketchbook's pages are filled with unbelievably kickass scenes of the ultimate in madcap mayhem. Each huge page bears as much detail as a fifteen-foot mural. The sketchbook knows no genre, has never heard of self-consistency, and laughs in the face of narrative. You always wonder to yourself if the sketchbook kid is on drugs, or maybe just energy drinks.
It has never had a movie adaptation. Until now. You m...
I'm at i3Detroit. My friend Rocco hacked the megaphone to add an audio input port. Bill and Tony ripped the audio from Revenge of the Titans to an mp3. The mega...
I'm at i3Detroit. My friend Rocco hacked the megaphone to add an audio input port. Bill and Tony ripped the audio from Revenge of the Titans to an mp3. The megaphone reproduces the megatitan's roar at earth-shaking volumes!
The parade puppet/costume itself is coming along well! All the patterns are printed and cut. Next: assembly!
Comments
none
Here is an article by several MIT nuclear scientists about the Fukushima reactor. It is a sober, neutral re-write and ongoing correction of an outraged rant wri...
Here is an article by several MIT nuclear scientists about the Fukushima reactor. It is a sober, neutral re-write and ongoing correction of an outraged rant written by an MIT business risk management researcher (previously falsely identified as an "MIT scientist" when his original article went viral).
They removed his mistakes and toned down his conclusions. The page now brims with facts about how nuclear power works, how these specific reactors are constructed, and the cost/benefit tr...
In this video, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris debate Rabbis David Wolpe and Shavit Artson on the topic of the afterlife. There is much witticism from every...
In this video, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris debate Rabbis David Wolpe and Shavit Artson on the topic of the afterlife. There is much witticism from everyone involved, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. I did too.
You are a process that your body does. It's like your body is a set of bowling pins, and bowling is a process that is done with them. When the bowling is done, where does the bowling go? Nowhere. It just stops. You can't point to the motionless bowling ball and pins and say &qu...
If you want to find out how safe something is, find out what it takes to break it. No one designs anything to withstand one of the largest earthquakes ever reco...
If you want to find out how safe something is, find out what it takes to break it. No one designs anything to withstand one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. And yet this decades-old plant withstood, under conditions five times worse than it was designed for.
A magnitude 8.9 earthquake, plus a tsunami on top of it, has resulted in the tiniest whiffle of radioactive steam, containing the type of isotope which ceased being radioactive in mere minutes. There has been zero radioactivity dama...
They're calling it an evil genius simulator.
Comments
crywolf on Mar. 15, 2011 3:38 AM
A little refinement, and they could have a new musical instrument, the t...
They're calling it an evil genius simulator.
Comments
crywolf on Mar. 15, 2011 3:38 AM
A little refinement, and they could have a new musical instrument, the teslamin.
moatn on Mar. 15, 2011 4:49 AM
Not quite an evil idea, but definitely genius!
beamjockey on Mar. 15, 2011 12:32 PM
A while back--before this had been invented-- Dan Butler-Ehle suggested "Thoramin."
(For once, my icon is on-topic!)
Delightful. When the dogs start a paroxysm of barking, I can tell them to stop via my new megaphone, and they will obey. If it's unholy-o-clock in the morning, ...
Delightful. When the dogs start a paroxysm of barking, I can tell them to stop via my new megaphone, and they will obey. If it's unholy-o-clock in the morning, I don't even have to get out of bed.
There is no potential for disturbance, because they only bark if my roommate is not home.
Comments
matt-arnold on Mar. 12, 2011 4:42 PM
"cracksqueeeeekDOGS.
THIS IS THE LOWERED.
YOU HAD BETTER BE QUIET OR I'M GOING TO COME DOWN THERE."
They believe it!
rjlona on Mar. 12, 2011 5:14 PM
Just g...
I sent the following message to the i3Detroit mailing list today. It got the intended result!
As many of you know, I am smack-dab in the epicenter of the targe...
I sent the following message to the i3Detroit mailing list today. It got the intended result!
As many of you know, I am smack-dab in the epicenter of the target market for a hackerspace. I love i3Detroit-- hell, I've talked people into joining. I live practically down the street, and I'm there all the time.
Of course I would join now if I could, but that would mean letting either my phone or my car insurance lapse. Currently I'm working part-time temp jobs while I finish going back to school. I...
Quick! What should I charge a startup in Texas for:
a logo design
a one-page non-interactive web design
a short animated loop (24 frames)
Comments
nicegeek o...
Quick! What should I charge a startup in Texas for:
a logo design
a one-page non-interactive web design
a short animated loop (24 frames)
Comments
nicegeek on Mar. 6, 2011 9:41 PM
Usually, professional services bill by the hour, so I'd estimate how long it will take you to do, and then decide on an hourly rate.
matt-arnold on Mar. 6, 2011 10:01 PM
Time-tracking software has proven my suspicion that it takes an unpredictable amount of time each time I do the same creative task.
zifferent on ...
Tor took a reader poll to vote for the best SF and Fantasy novels of the decade. Blindsight, by Peter Watts, came in fourth place. Elizabeth Bear wrote an appre...
Tor took a reader poll to vote for the best SF and Fantasy novels of the decade. Blindsight, by Peter Watts, came in fourth place. Elizabeth Bear wrote an appreciation of Blindsight, calling it "the best hard science fiction novel of the first decade of this millennium."
"...his ideas are horrible and fascinating and glitter like a swarm of darkly jeweled beetle carapaces, that he’s got a hard-biology explanation for vampirism and that his thematic freight—that all we see when we...
I was donated an Inspiron 9300 with a defective screen and no hard drive, to tinker around with. Anybody have an ATA drive they want to give away?
EDITED TO ADD...
I was donated an Inspiron 9300 with a defective screen and no hard drive, to tinker around with. Anybody have an ATA drive they want to give away?
EDITED TO ADD: It's a laptop.
Comments
stormgren on Mar. 2, 2011 12:50 PM
How big do you want?
I might have one I can spare.
matt-arnold on Mar. 2, 2011 1:53 PM
I'd need 30 or 40 gig if I'm to install Ubuntu on it and still have space for some files.
delosd on Mar. 3, 2011 2:01 AM
Not sure if it's the right type drive, but you can check it out and ...
Help build a giant street puppet out of cardboard and bamboo!
When: Tuesday, March 8
What Time: come and go any time between 11:00 AM through 9:00 PM
Where: i3D...
Help build a giant street puppet out of cardboard and bamboo!
When: Tuesday, March 8
What Time: come and go any time between 11:00 AM through 9:00 PM
Where: i3Detroit, [1481 Wordsworth, Ferndale, MI 48220](1481 wordsworth,
Ferndale, MI 48220)
Who's in?
Comments
albogdan on Mar. 2, 2011 1:10 AM
Looks like I can make it.
I'd like to make some different-colored jigsaw-puzzle game tiles with a visible color on the edge when another tile is stacked on top of it. They could be wood,...
I'd like to make some different-colored jigsaw-puzzle game tiles with a visible color on the edge when another tile is stacked on top of it. They could be wood, pressboard, plastic, or any stiff material; but unfortunately these usually only come in one color. Painting them before milling would only color the surface. Painting them after milling would cause drips that would be distinguishable by touch, when you pull the tile from a bag.
I have not found any type of laser-cuttable stiff sheet, at...
As in almost every job, I am now teaching the other employees how to do my job when I am no longer here. Their progress is excellent. I am also teaching one of ...
As in almost every job, I am now teaching the other employees how to do my job when I am no longer here. Their progress is excellent. I am also teaching one of the EMU faculty, who likes to create websites in off hours, and is very interested and capable.
This semester, all three of my classes are covering the same material I am teaching my co-workers: creating websites in HTML and CSS, and how to put them on the web. I have known how to do this for ten years.
I'm taking the basic classes in my ...
Cardboard. Check ... although we need more.
Staple gun. Check.
Zip ties. Check.
Six 6' bamboo poles. Check.
Dark green, bright green, and white spray paint. Che...
Cardboard. Check ... although we need more.
Staple gun. Check.
Zip ties. Check.
Six 6' bamboo poles. Check.
Dark green, bright green, and white spray paint. Check.
A wide (2" or 3") roll of painter tape. Check.
Still remaining to be sourced:
Keychain rings.
A truck to transport it from Ferndale to Ann Arbor by 4 PM, Sunday, April 3, and back at 7 PM.
Green transparent tape for the eyes.
Two very bright light sources behind the tape-- we have little keychain LEDs that would probably n...
There's a saying: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Actually, it usually is.
If you were in this room, I would probably see you. You a...
There's a saying: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Actually, it usually is.
If you were in this room, I would probably see you. You are not the sort of people to hide in rooms. The evidence of your absence is not totally conclusive, but what difference does that make?
"If you can't disprove what I say with absolute certainty, both alternatives carry equal weight." No, they do not. At all. Not even close.
Some things generate evidence by their presence. An uns...
I am writing this from inside the locked foyer of the Halle Library at EMU. I did not know before I left for work that the weather was this bad. My commute took...
I am writing this from inside the locked foyer of the Halle Library at EMU. I did not know before I left for work that the weather was this bad. My commute took two hours. I spent another hour with some helpful guys who stopped to tow me out of a snowbank on Washtenaw Avenue. By that time, it became clear the school was probably closed, but in for a penny, in for a pound. I found a clear place to park in a strip mall in front of a closed Blockbuster, and hiked through the snowbanks quite a bit f...
Councilroom.com is a fan site for the card game Dominion that analyzes statistics from logs of all games played online at dominion.isotropic.org.
They put out t...
Councilroom.com is a fan site for the card game Dominion that analyzes statistics from logs of all games played online at dominion.isotropic.org.
They put out the call for some graphics, and I have begun to submit some! For instance, I made the favicon which you can see in the title bar, depending on which browser you use.
I am sending them a lot of unlockable achievement badges, which they are gradually programming into the system. For instance, if you look at the player page about "theory...
Laser cutting at i3Detroit, Feb 12, 2011 from Matt Arnold on Vimeo.
This laser plotter has finished engraving the pieces I designed, and is now cutting the peri...
Laser cutting at i3Detroit, Feb 12, 2011 from Matt Arnold on Vimeo.
This laser plotter has finished engraving the pieces I designed, and is now cutting the perimeters of the pieces. This is 1/4" medium density fiberboard. This is at i3Detroit hacker space, in Ferndale, MI.
Comments
none
"Life rewards those who move in the direction of greatest courage." -
I look at a lot of things like I'm Wesley and life is the Dread Pirate Rogers. ...
"Life rewards those who move in the direction of greatest courage." -
I look at a lot of things like I'm Wesley and life is the Dread Pirate Rogers. "Good night Wesley, good work, sleep well, I'll most likely kill you in the morning." Then I wake up realizing I have one more day with X (job, partner, friend, roof, health), as a precious gift, not something I can take for granted. I admit the metaphor breaks down: most of the things I look at this way are great, whereas the D...
This career retrospective for animation genius Brad Bird (Family Dog, Iron Giant, The Incredibles) is great, but the real kicker is his award acceptance speech ...
This career retrospective for animation genius Brad Bird (Family Dog, Iron Giant, The Incredibles) is great, but the real kicker is his award acceptance speech starting at 4 minutes 30 seconds. The impatient can just jump to 5 minutes 40 seconds.
Comments
none
I received several texts, emails and voice mails today about the Dare to Share Challenge. You get the Basic version of the messiahStudio5 animation suite for $1...
I received several texts, emails and voice mails today about the Dare to Share Challenge. You get the Basic version of the messiahStudio5 animation suite for $10 (regularly $499), or the Pro version for $40 (regularly $1195). Given the cost of Autodesk Maya is even more extravagant than messiahStudio's un-discounted cost, naturally I couldn't pass it up. The catch is that if they don't reach their financial goal, instead of sending the licenses, they'll refund everybody's money. The project is a...
We need a new term for a particular blogging/tweeting phenomenon in which internet crowds form sides and square off for a smackdown. Opposing cultures are expos...
We need a new term for a particular blogging/tweeting phenomenon in which internet crowds form sides and square off for a smackdown. Opposing cultures are exposed to each other by the web, are shocked and appalled, and express more and more shock, claiming greater and greater magnitudes of hurt, used to justify worse and worse behavior, culminating eventually in threats or stalking. The most recent example is springing up around Penny Arcade Dickwolves Debacle which resulted in speakers cancelli...
It took a couple of tries to scale it up (the advertised thickness of the wood was slightly incorrect), but here is the robot I showed you in the last post!
more
It took a couple of tries to scale it up (the advertised thickness of the wood was slightly incorrect), but here is the robot I showed you in the last post!
less
Refreshment
Cost: 0
When you draw this card,
you may reveal it from your hand
to enjoy an ice-cold Diet CokeTM,
available now at the concession
stand for only $...
Refreshment
Cost: 0
When you draw this card,
you may reveal it from your hand
to enjoy an ice-cold Diet CokeTM,
available now at the concession
stand for only $4.50.
Type: REACTION
Distributed at the 2009 Gencon, "Refreshment" was misunderstood to mean the owner could exchange it for a free product in real life, when in fact it was intended to motivate players to make a purchase. This got the creator, Veronica Mills of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, fired from her job at the concession stand in E...
In an act of amazing and utter coolness, Rio Grande Games has re-iterated their friendly policy toward fan cards. In so doing, they also asked fan creators help...
In an act of amazing and utter coolness, Rio Grande Games has re-iterated their friendly policy toward fan cards. In so doing, they also asked fan creators help them out, by formulating the name "[My Expansion Name], a Fan Expansion for Dominion" and avoid the formulation "Dominion: [My Expansion Name]" which is reserved for official expansions. This is to prevent confusion. My original three disclaimers still apply as well.
less
Good news and bad news. If you read on, I will illustrate my point with a metaphor about kittens. But first an update.
I didn't get the 3D Artist Position at U ...
Good news and bad news. If you read on, I will illustrate my point with a metaphor about kittens. But first an update.
I didn't get the 3D Artist Position at U of M. The bottom line was that they had a lot of applicants with actual paid experience on the job. My next application will be for a User Experience internship at JSTOR.
I really appreciate receiving a followup email from U of M 3D Lab. With over 150 applicants, that's a lot of work for them. They're even going to post (with permission) ...
ConFusion was a successful con for me. It spent all of the time in the game room, except for the room parties Saturday night, and giving a presentation Sunday.
...
ConFusion was a successful con for me. It spent all of the time in the game room, except for the room parties Saturday night, and giving a presentation Sunday.
The printer double-folded the pocket program brochure, instead of quad-folding it as I specified. They must have been looking at my instructions for the program book. A lot of people said they liked the book this year.
A publisher asked me to bring some of my game prototypes to look at during the con. It went well. I'll blog about that ne...
I'm watching "Chaos Theory" and I haven't been this frustrated since I watched "Chasing Amy".
A woman in labor crashed her car driving to th...
I'm watching "Chaos Theory" and I haven't been this frustrated since I watched "Chasing Amy".
A woman in labor crashed her car driving to the hospital. A stranger drove her the rest of the way. The hospital assumed he was the husband, and made him sign paperwork. The pregnant woman ran out on her child. The hospital called his wife, assuming she was the mother, and demanding she return. The wife instantly accepted the idea he had lived a double life and had a baby with anothe...
I found this in the Monopoly forums on Boardgamegeek.com:
Of all the board games out there in the world, there's one that's popular far out of proportion to it...
I found this in the Monopoly forums on Boardgamegeek.com:
Of all the board games out there in the world, there's one that's popular far out of proportion to its actual quality. This game drags on interminably, as players roll the dice over and over, hoping to eventually gain something that they can trade for something worthwhile. The trading and negotiation aspect, which is about all this game has to speak in its favour, is essentially an elaborate scam, created to fool the players into thinkin...
Thanks very much to the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association for their "Cool Stuff Grant" to buy me a student copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Today I...
Thanks very much to the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association for their "Cool Stuff Grant" to buy me a student copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Today I'm working on an ad for ConFusion, and doing some more work on the ConFusion program book.
One of the new features in Photoshop CS5 is incredible! It's called Puppet Warp. I can put my drawings into a new pose with surprising ease. Select Puppet Warp and Photoshop will create an interface over your drawing that conforms to its curves. It ...
A project has asked me to test the security of their website. All I can attempt is a SQL injection. If any of you with more expertise would be willing to take a...
A project has asked me to test the security of their website. All I can attempt is a SQL injection. If any of you with more expertise would be willing to take a crack at it, please let me know.
Comments
sorcycat on Jan. 6, 2011 1:52 PM
A slightly less complicated form of hacking is to figure out the patterns in the URL and see if you can get to an area of the website you shouldn't be able to access, like /admin
Wikipedia has a list of common misconceptions. How many of them surprise you? For instance:
George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter.
Gyroscopic fo...
Wikipedia has a list of common misconceptions. How many of them surprise you? For instance:
George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter.
Gyroscopic forces are not required for a rider to balance a bicycle.
John F. Kennedy's words "Ich bin ein Berliner" are standard German for "I am a Berliner".
Comments
fiat-knox on Jan. 6, 2011 1:17 PM — Misconceptions
Can I assume that means you've seen XKCD 843 then? :)
desfontaines on Jan. 6, 2011 2:32 PM
Aw, they don't have t...
It has become difficult for our contemporaries to imagine a fantasy world inside a mundane, utilitarian chunk of plastic, without openable screws, with apps you...
It has become difficult for our contemporaries to imagine a fantasy world inside a mundane, utilitarian chunk of plastic, without openable screws, with apps you are not allowed to modify. To them, TRON: Legacy might feel like the adventures of dust particles in a Bissell Cleanview Helix® Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner, $79.99 at Target after rebate. The juxtaposition of the familiar and the otherworldly makes some reviewers uncomfortable.
Wardrobes are a well-understood technology. We know their...
From i3Detroit mailing list:
The team at i3Detroit has entered a contest with Instructables.com to win an Epilog Laser Cutter and Etcher (model: Zing 16). WE NE...
From i3Detroit mailing list:
The team at i3Detroit has entered a contest with Instructables.com to win an Epilog Laser Cutter and Etcher (model: Zing 16). WE NEED YOUR HELP. The build team lead by Dustin White & Bob Bedard made a fantastic entry to the contest by building a step-by-step guide to converting a military ammo box into a set of portable music speakers. It's a rugged and spiffy design that
is sure to win, if we have your votes. In order to win the prize, we need you to vote on our...
Found via Hacker News, here is donttrack.us, a page on web privacy by search engine DuckDuckGo.
Comments
rjlona on Jan. 3, 2011 4:43 PM
The donttrack.us link d...
Found via Hacker News, here is donttrack.us, a page on web privacy by search engine DuckDuckGo.
Comments
rjlona on Jan. 3, 2011 4:43 PM
The donttrack.us link doesn't go anywhere except to a page with a weeping goat.
matt-arnold on Jan. 3, 2011 4:45 PM
Aha. I left http: off of the front of the URL, so Livejournal was treating it as if it were supposed to be a site within Livejournal. Try again.
atropis on Jan. 3, 2011 5:53 PM
good info, thanks!
rjlona on Jan. 3, 2011 6:59 PM
Huh. Interesting....
Fish stands for Friendly Interactive Shell. A "shell", in this context, is a type of computer application (more often found under Linux, although not ...
Fish stands for Friendly Interactive Shell. A "shell", in this context, is a type of computer application (more often found under Linux, although not completely unheard of on Windows and Mac) which gives you a command line with a complete language for performing most operations of your computer.
Fish adds things like highlighting words in various colors to indicate whether you typed them correctly, before you run the command. It helps you end your quotes or parentheses. It autocomplete...
I just think these designs look better. It's my design philosophy. These are items you pick up and handle and use. They should not look like they belong on the ...
I just think these designs look better. It's my design philosophy. These are items you pick up and handle and use. They should not look like they belong on the wall in a frame. They should not depict. They should do and be.
But then I would get questioned for why I was hired as a designer if I was going to do so little. You have to make the design worse with lots of ornamentation to justify your pay. This is one of the reasons I would rather work on usability and legibility than design.
Also: Wh...
Tonight I moved to Royal Oak! I'm just in time to go to i3Detroit and co-host an episode of The Toad Elevating Moment, the show by DJ Blasted Bill (), streaming...
Tonight I moved to Royal Oak! I'm just in time to go to i3Detroit and co-host an episode of The Toad Elevating Moment, the show by DJ Blasted Bill (), streaming Wednesdays from 8 to 10 PM on DementiaRadio.org. Up until this point I co-hosted the Travcast on Tuesday nights, hosted by my roommate in our apartment. But years ago I was a regular co-host for Bill on T.E.M. I'll miss the Travcast, but this is a joyous reunion! T.E.M. will be recorded for a podcast in case you want to catch it later.
C...
I've looked forward to watching "Cold Souls" ever since I heard about it.
It invites comparisons to "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal...
I've looked forward to watching "Cold Souls" ever since I heard about it.
It invites comparisons to "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but is not written by Charlie Kaufman.
Paul Giamatti takes the lead role... as himself.
Do you think he will ever be able to eat chickpeas again?
+1 for the steampunk goggles.
I laughed the hardest at one of his acting performances, when I realized he had started a Shatner impersonation.
Comments
de...
Our friend MOATN has finished the project which he began about two years ago, to change his name every day for 1000 days. Here is his announcement of his one th...
Our friend MOATN has finished the project which he began about two years ago, to change his name every day for 1000 days. Here is his announcement of his one thousandth and final permanent name. If you just listen to it, and don't watch the video, you're missing out on the signs and other visuals!
Congratulations, MOATN, on this momentous occasion!
Comments
amanda_lodden on Dec. 11, 2010 8:51 PM
So, um, is he psychic, or is the "December 11, 2011" a typo?
matt-arnold on Dec. 11, 2010...
A promotional website for an upcoming iPhone app appears to be better than the app it's promoting. When you scroll down on the Ben the Bodyguard website (warnin...
A promotional website for an upcoming iPhone app appears to be better than the app it's promoting. When you scroll down on the Ben the Bodyguard website (warning, comics kind of NSFW), an animated story unfolds. Like a graphic novel, the changes to the webpage proceed at the pace set by your scroll wheel, and all without the use of Flash.
The problem is that the developers say they were mistaken to create such popularity and buzz for the app, when it honestly doesn't do very much to secure your ...
Last night, playing Dominion with Eric and Rob, I scored 78 points in one turn! To call this a personal best is an understatement. A six-point turn is considere...
Last night, playing Dominion with Eric and Rob, I scored 78 points in one turn! To call this a personal best is an understatement. A six-point turn is considered a lot.
I chained some cards that let me play two more cards each. I played 3 King's Courts. King's Court lets you pick a card from your hand and play it three times. Each of these King's Courts played a Bridge. Bridge gives you $1, lets you split your money between two cards this turn instead of being limited to buying one, and it makes...
I have said goodbye to all my relationships in recent months, as they start new lives with exciting new careers thousands of miles away. Relationships are an ar...
I have said goodbye to all my relationships in recent months, as they start new lives with exciting new careers thousands of miles away. Relationships are an area of life in which I'm pretty satisfied with my results. While it is particularly on my mind, I thought I'd just put down some thoughts. These are the philosophies to which I credit my lack of drama and turmoil.
Expectations are key to success and failure. From the very start, we managed our expectations well. Imagine the joy of feeling ...
I occasionally hear "you can't ever change people's minds". Here's a video in which they do.
Comments
darksunlight on Dec. 7, 2010 7:18 PM
Sometimes ...
I occasionally hear "you can't ever change people's minds". Here's a video in which they do.
Comments
darksunlight on Dec. 7, 2010 7:18 PM
Sometimes I feel the need to play Devils Advocate. If I were on the other side, I think the response I'd give would be: "I didn't. I was born straight. Being gay is the choice." Which, again, not my personal belief, but how I see the opposition responding.
Today is not the time for this to happen. J's moving out today and needs people to load the truck. Fortunately I can do some work from home.
On my way out of wo...
Today is not the time for this to happen. J's moving out today and needs people to load the truck. Fortunately I can do some work from home.
On my way out of work in Ypsilanti, I walk several blocks to my car. Yesterday I stepped off a curb onto a hilly street and came down on my foot sideways.
A middle-aged lady stopped to help. When it became clear I couldn't hobble even when supported, went to her nearby house to give me free crutches.
While she was gone, a college student who saw me from a d...
I like my interest groups full of women, and I can't imagine chasing them out of the group which is supposed to be about the common interests, not a dating site...
I like my interest groups full of women, and I can't imagine chasing them out of the group which is supposed to be about the common interests, not a dating site. I want an environment in which they can be confident that they are meeting friends, not getting a lot of pressure or big expectations.
So you can predict my growing shock, alarm, disgust, and facepalm, at hearing about guys making unwanted advances, and even sexual assault, toward women at OSCON, OLS, or other open source related events...
Throughout December I'll be moving to Royal Oak. MT, whom many of you know from Penguicon, has offered to rent me a room in her home for a very good price. It's...
Throughout December I'll be moving to Royal Oak. MT, whom many of you know from Penguicon, has offered to rent me a room in her home for a very good price. It's near i3Detroit, so expect to see me around there more often! And she has made it clear that gaming parties in her house are not only allowed, but encouraged!
Comments
albogdan on Dec. 3, 2010 1:34 PM
Good location. Right around the corner from us.
rjlona on Dec. 3, 2010 5:41 PM
This sounds like a much better situation than the one with...
That's where I am right now!
This hackerspace is in Mountain View, in Silicon Valley. I'll post my video tour soon. There are a lot of people here, but I didn't...
That's where I am right now!
This hackerspace is in Mountain View, in Silicon Valley. I'll post my video tour soon. There are a lot of people here, but I didn't film them for privacy and in order to not disturb their work. These are serious people, trying to beat the famous time limit to get "ramen profitable" before the money runs out.
But some of them took the time to greet me and get to know me. I got to find out about YourVersion.org. The upshot of this web app (and Android app) is...
I'm posting this from Ghirardelli Square. I just had caffiene-flavored ice cream with caffiene chips and caffiene sauce on top. But the free wifi is basically w...
I'm posting this from Ghirardelli Square. I just had caffiene-flavored ice cream with caffiene chips and caffiene sauce on top. But the free wifi is basically what I came here to do. I can't check out whether a city is awesome without looking for free and open internet access.
I'm grateful to my hostess for taking me to see the Golden Gate bridge, and the tour of the chocolate making was cool, but what really excites me is the idea of tech tourism. I want to see them roll the rubies over the rai...
This is the super-simplified version of Ingeniators, in response to the feedback from the game design contest. It could be sold separately or in the same box wi...
This is the super-simplified version of Ingeniators, in response to the feedback from the game design contest. It could be sold separately or in the same box with the advanced version.
Equipment:
1 game board:
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We were supposed to arrive Sunday, but arrived this morning in the greater San Francisco environs. We pushed straight through, stopping only for fuel and restro...
We were supposed to arrive Sunday, but arrived this morning in the greater San Francisco environs. We pushed straight through, stopping only for fuel and restrooms, subsisting on a Thanksgiving repast of Pop Tarts, beef jerky, trail mix, cookies, crackers, soda, cranberry juice, and water.
Just in case we encountered car trouble, a blizzard, or a zombie outbreak, we put my plane ticket on Wednesday evening. I now do not know what to do with myself for five days. Here I am in California! Hi!
Comm...
From time to time I debate with a former classmate, because he said he welcomes such a discussion. I do it because he reminds me of myself when I was his age. I...
From time to time I debate with a former classmate, because he said he welcomes such a discussion. I do it because he reminds me of myself when I was his age. I get to say the sorts of things I wish someone had said to me. He's even an aspiring animator, which makes me feel particularly protective. I was a fundamentalist Christian, and he's a Muslim. My Chick tracts had conspiracy theories about Catholics and humanists, and he prefers his conspiracy theories of the racist variety.
Despite their ...
The winner of U-Con's local semifinal of the 2010 Rio Grande Game Design Competition is "Verlatical"! Congratulations to the designer, Ross Atkinson.
...
The winner of U-Con's local semifinal of the 2010 Rio Grande Game Design Competition is "Verlatical"! Congratulations to the designer, Ross Atkinson.
Here is the feedback I received for the game I entered, "Ingeniators".
Scoresheet criterion, on a scale of one to ten. Each column is 1 of the 7 playtesters.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1. Decision Driven: How much is the winner determined based on their decisions, as opposed to luck factors?
4
4
4
4
5
4
5
2. Originality
3
5
5
3
5
4
5
3. Wait...
The suggested contribution to the Adobe software fundraising project is $10. I think there are definitely 30 people who have $10 they would want to contribute t...
The suggested contribution to the Adobe software fundraising project is $10. I think there are definitely 30 people who have $10 they would want to contribute toward usable, attractive convention websites, maps, ads, program books, and pocket schedule brochures.
I am considering starting a Kickstarter project, but all of the things I can think of to offer to donors as prizes would be things they already expect me to do anyway. I am mulling over that situation.
Comments
infant-phoenix on Nov. 17...
Now that I'm a student, I only have to pay 25% or less for Adobe software. Creative Suite is a bundle of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I use those three...
Now that I'm a student, I only have to pay 25% or less for Adobe software. Creative Suite is a bundle of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I use those three for science fiction convention books, board games, business cards, webcomics, website graphics, and the occasional professional contract. Acrobat Pro is the application that generates PDFs from these source files and lets me adjust a lot of page imposition and settings for print shops. Flash creates animated clips like the one I made a f...
I just got home from a long day of sitting in the Operations/Registration room at U-Con, not playing games. It has certainly not been a fun con for me, (except ...
I just got home from a long day of sitting in the Operations/Registration room at U-Con, not playing games. It has certainly not been a fun con for me, (except when I ignored my responsibilities and went to my game-designing happy place).
So I got home past midnight, needing to go to sleep in order to get up early enough to go back in the morning. In my living room was a group of my friends, playing a roleplaying game. The room was more full than some of the rooms at U-Con.
One of them complaine...
NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month), for those who don't know, is November. Thousands of participants commit to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days, ...
NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month), for those who don't know, is November. Thousands of participants commit to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days, cranking out a set number of words per day. If you make it, you "win". You're not supposed to care whether the novel is good. The purpose for most of them is to train themselves for the discipline of creative output on a tough deadline, in an environment of mutual support.
Why not a GloWMoCoMo? Global Web/Mobile Coding Month.
Co...
I almost certainly got the part-time web dev/design job in Ypsilanti which I applied for. J took an excellent job in Denver, which will let her work remotely fr...
I almost certainly got the part-time web dev/design job in Ypsilanti which I applied for. J took an excellent job in Denver, which will let her work remotely from here until she moves out there in December. I'm staying here to finish my web development certificate, which will finish in May. Five months is a long time, so I won't prepare premature plans past that point.
J spent a few weeks in Chicago, interviewing with a different company every day. I was really rooting for Chicago to win. I woul...
For my personal website, NemoRathwald.com, I have decided to write my own super-minimal content management system from scratch. Using Wordpress is a huge hassle...
For my personal website, NemoRathwald.com, I have decided to write my own super-minimal content management system from scratch. Using Wordpress is a huge hassle for me, because it wants to be a blogging site with logged-in users, commenting, plug-ins, widgets, and lots and lots of features. I have to turn off those features and constantly work around them. I used to want a way to edit my pages in the browser, which was the great value of Wordpress. But now that I'm sufficiently comfortable with ...
1. Web development.
2. Pair programming.
3. Present company.
4. Ubuntu 10.10.
5. Coffee shops.
That is all. Message concludes.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Nov. 7...
1. Web development.
2. Pair programming.
3. Present company.
4. Ubuntu 10.10.
5. Coffee shops.
That is all. Message concludes.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Nov. 7, 2010 10:44 PM
Presumably you mean "that is all" as "that is all I wished to announce at this moment" rather than "that is all I like."
matt-arnold on Nov. 7, 2010 10:56 PM
Correct! I'm already receiving outraged pleas for Dominion in the comments to this entry on Facebook.
Today I interviewed for a job. It turns out they were mainly looking for a student at their own university. They were surprised to discover that I am not a stud...
Today I interviewed for a job. It turns out they were mainly looking for a student at their own university. They were surprised to discover that I am not a student there, and impressed that someone thought to photograph their poster and email it to me.
They are not sure how to hire someone other than their own students, without violating union rules. They said the union would most likely restrict them to hiring me as a temp job for less than 120 days. Given that it is ten to twenty hours a week ...
Two things.
1. Can anyone give me an invite to Demonoid or a comparable private torrent site? For some reason, my Demonoid username and password don't work any ...
Two things.
1. Can anyone give me an invite to Demonoid or a comparable private torrent site? For some reason, my Demonoid username and password don't work any more. I really need it now that I had to wipe my computer.
2. I left my backup flash drive in the USB port while I installed Windows and Linux. One of them formatted it. Fortunately I backed up on J's server a few months ago. Of course the nature of web development work is to be online, so I've got that too. I also tend to email things to...
My laptop just got infected with a root-kit, and won't boot. Time for me to use an Ubuntu live CD to get data off the laptop, format the drive, and reinstall Wi...
My laptop just got infected with a root-kit, and won't boot. Time for me to use an Ubuntu live CD to get data off the laptop, format the drive, and reinstall Windows.
This is right when I'm making the U-Con program book and trying to design at least one webpage for the interview tomorrow. I'll have to use this Mac to finish them.
On the up side, now that I'm finally comfortable with most aspects of a development environment, I have a reason to use Linux again. This is an opportunity to go back t...
I have a job interview tomorrow, doing web design part time for EMU. I dread the prospect of getting a corporate design job. The worst part about design work is...
I have a job interview tomorrow, doing web design part time for EMU. I dread the prospect of getting a corporate design job. The worst part about design work is the subjectivity. I like coding websites better than designing them because I can nail down the specifications. You wanted the site to do X; we objectively defined it; Look! Now it does X. I hold out my hand. That will be money dollars. Design clients don't like it when I give them a site that I think looks good. So I try to nail down wh...
This is hi-freaking-larious. A programmer got so tired of arguing with folks who don't believe global warming exists, that he wrote a script to do it for him. I...
This is hi-freaking-larious. A programmer got so tired of arguing with folks who don't believe global warming exists, that he wrote a script to do it for him. It detects certain catch phrases on Twitter, and sends them what it judges to be the most appropriate of hundreds of canned responses. Since the person it's talking to usually thinks they're arguing with a human, the script can continue arguing past the point of exhaustion. The article concludes:
In a way, what Leck has created is a pro-a...
I'm done with the weekend of the Halloween party responsibilities, Youmacon responsibilities, game design contest deadline, and midterms. My drawing tablet beck...
I'm done with the weekend of the Halloween party responsibilities, Youmacon responsibilities, game design contest deadline, and midterms. My drawing tablet beckons. Does anybody here have a photo of Kimba?
Comments
dawnwolf on Nov. 3, 2010 4:18 PM — OMG
Am I an evil person for saying that I'm seriously looking forward to seeing this one?
desfontaines on (None)
desfontaines on Nov. 5, 2010 8:08 PM
I suppose that the Kimba you're looking for isn't a white lion.
jodybrai on Nov. 6, 2010 8:21 PM...
Does anyone want to carpool from the Detroit/AnnArbor area? EDITED TO ADD: Oops, I should have said Saturday, not Friday.
Comments
drew4096 on Nov. 2, 2010 11:...
Does anyone want to carpool from the Detroit/AnnArbor area? EDITED TO ADD: Oops, I should have said Saturday, not Friday.
Comments
drew4096 on Nov. 2, 2010 11:16 PM
Check your e-mail, Matt.
desfontaines on Nov. 3, 2010 12:35 AM
Nuts. Against Limey's Halloween party. Hopefully I'll be able to hit one in December, now that I'm finally on the appropriate LJ group to get the announcements! :)
crywolf on Nov. 3, 2010 1:39 AM
No carpool for me, since I'm already in Lansing, but I intend to be at th...
Programming a web app while watching a police procedural is a good idea. Every mystery is a learning opportunity. Why is my PHP code generating HTML with an ext...
Programming a web app while watching a police procedural is a good idea. Every mystery is a learning opportunity. Why is my PHP code generating HTML with an extra linebreak? There is no \n at that spot in the code. I don my sunglasses. Even though it's nighttime. Darkness doesn't matter. Always wear sunglasses at the scene of a crime.
That spot in the code is a red herring. It's clean. Suspicion now turns on the comma-separated values file. Its fingerprints are all over this. The extra linebreak...
Thank you to everyone who commented on my post on burnout.
1. Overcommitment
I'm going to commit to less things. J helped tremendously by taking over PodDisc.co...
Thank you to everyone who commented on my post on burnout.
1. Overcommitment
I'm going to commit to less things. J helped tremendously by taking over PodDisc.com shipping from me. Now she's going to take over shipping "The Complete Lojban Language". I can feel sort of an emotional weight lifting off me by not having to keep track of any orders right now. And J needs the money anyway.
I wish I could back out of U-Con entirely, but that would probably cause the most involved person to go...
Using only Minecraft, a team of fans reproduced the fantastic undersea city from the computer game Bioshock! :)
The folks in the Lojban community have a multipl...
Using only Minecraft, a team of fans reproduced the fantastic undersea city from the computer game Bioshock! :)
The folks in the Lojban community have a multiplayer Minecraft server as well, at pinfu.lojban.org. kunkakpa is Lojban for Minecraft. We're sort of setting out to label everything in the world with signs in Lojban.
Comments
plasmonicgrid on Oct. 24, 2010 2:23 PM
Nice. I'll have to check theses out.
edit:
Wow! Totally need to get a copy of that world to play with at home. :-P
Watch episode 11 of Louis C. K.'s show Louie on Hulu, or through Netflix instant watch if you have it. The show is normally a comedy, but this episode isn't.
Yo...
Watch episode 11 of Louis C. K.'s show Louie on Hulu, or through Netflix instant watch if you have it. The show is normally a comedy, but this episode isn't.
You know, I could write several pages about it. But I'll give my blood pressure a rest.
Comments
none
I need volunteers to help me in the Operations center U-Con, Michigan's game convention at U of M, on Friday November 12 through Sunday November 14. Run the tic...
I need volunteers to help me in the Operations center U-Con, Michigan's game convention at U of M, on Friday November 12 through Sunday November 14. Run the ticket barcode scanner, or check IDs against pre-registered badges. Work shifts are extremely flexible. I have a whole spreadsheet of times to choose from!
Comments
none
wheaton's law = don't be a dick
not sure if you're aware you're doing it or not and i have no desire to get into details, but wheaton's law, your breaking it a ...
wheaton's law = don't be a dick
not sure if you're aware you're doing it or not and i have no desire to get into details, but wheaton's law, your breaking it a lot lately.
Yes, I noticed. The simplest way to describe it is that my level of patience has been plummeting through the floor.
The more I notice that, the more I realize I'm stressed and unhappy. Most things that I used to be involved with rarely bring me joy anymore, mostly frustration. I'm no longer interested in maintaining most of m...
Hi Everyone,
I'm the mysterious J (or perhaps not so mysterious if you know Matt in real life), and I'm here posting at his behest. The reason, and I quote:
I ...
Hi Everyone,
I'm the mysterious J (or perhaps not so mysterious if you know Matt in real life), and I'm here posting at his behest. The reason, and I quote:
I recuse myself from the Internet today because I fear my judgment may be impaired on account of seething rage.
In other words, he won't be getting back to anyone today. Those of you with petty ideologies, please take them out for a short walk and a potty break while he spends some time doing laundry and taking a much-needed breather. Ever...
My friend Craig came out as gay on Facebook. Some of his friends are from his religious community. They said God loves him even though he's a sinner.
Craig said...
My friend Craig came out as gay on Facebook. Some of his friends are from his religious community. They said God loves him even though he's a sinner.
Craig said some stirring words about his struggle. I wish I could copy and paste them here, but it was his space and he asked me to take it to mine.
Some there said this was no time for a religious debate. They could not be more wrong. There is no better time to expose a system of manipulation than when that manipulation is exercised. If I let them...
Of course we're all angry about the poor treatment that resulted in recent suicides by homosexual students. You're right to be angry. I'm angry. It is unforgiva...
Of course we're all angry about the poor treatment that resulted in recent suicides by homosexual students. You're right to be angry. I'm angry. It is unforgivable to harass, stalk, and taunt someone just because they're gay. We don't need such a person around. Unfortunately I am seeing this strategy in response:
Step 1. If you are a teen,
...commit suicide.
Step 2. If you are an adult,
...go insane from the resulting burst of adrenaline.
...equate speech with murder.
...legislate virtue by outl...
I think we should give weight to the claims of those who know what they're talking about.
The worst implication of this survey is about what faith is. I don't m...
I think we should give weight to the claims of those who know what they're talking about.
The worst implication of this survey is about what faith is. I don't mean what you think faith ought to be, or what they taught in seminary that faith ought to be. Those are mostly sophisticated or at least noble, but I am referring to what real faith is, as it is overwhelmingly practiced in the real world. It is believing a claim without caring whether it is true.
A typical response to this will be that re...
Penguicon's Halloween Hackerspace party, on Oct. 30, at 8PM through 2AM, needs volunteers! Cleaning up, serving drinks, and making and serving liquid nitrogen i...
Penguicon's Halloween Hackerspace party, on Oct. 30, at 8PM through 2AM, needs volunteers! Cleaning up, serving drinks, and making and serving liquid nitrogen ice cream. Let me know if you'd like to participate, and if you're available before, during, or after!
Comments
twoofdtm on Sep. 24, 2010 12:46 AM
Serving what kind of drinks?
matt-arnold on Sep. 24, 2010 12:57 AM
Probably Woodchuck and Blue Moon.
ssanfratello on Sep. 25, 2010 2:48 AM
Or, you all could come to the Aegis party, at the sa...
I'll be at Buckeye Game Fest the weekend after that. I'm hoping to get to play these games:
Alien Frontiers
Blue Moon City
Domaine
Goa
The Great Fire of London ...
I'll be at Buckeye Game Fest the weekend after that. I'm hoping to get to play these games:
Alien Frontiers
Blue Moon City
Domaine
Goa
The Great Fire of London 1666
Jaipur
Ra
Rattus
Space Alert
The Speicherstadt
Tikal II: The Lost Temple
According to their online list of the games in their library, of these, they only have Goa and Ra. But other attendees may bring some of the other games on the list. I'm excited.
Comments
ferininja on (None)
matt-arnold on Sep. 23, 2010 1:02 AM
Alien Frontiers...
If I'm still living in Michigan when 2011 comes around, I will be very surprised. This is one of those blog posts in which I'm upset and stressed about income.
...
If I'm still living in Michigan when 2011 comes around, I will be very surprised. This is one of those blog posts in which I'm upset and stressed about income.
To lighten the mood, here is a really fun song on this topic by a band that most of us like. I listen to it a lot. :)
It's been about three years since I had a real job that has a real income (if you count the tech company I "kind of" worked for). Since then, I've had illustration odd jobs, a quick temp job once or twice a year,...
I go to the post office a lot. The first thing that confronts me is a missing children poster, the type you get in junk mail. I always have the same thought.
Di...
I go to the post office a lot. The first thing that confronts me is a missing children poster, the type you get in junk mail. I always have the same thought.
Did you know most abducted kids are kidnapped by a parent in a custody dispute? The concept of being kidnapped by one's own parent does not fall within the concept of kidnapping as commonly understood-- a misunderstanding which is exploited by these posters to create the impression of a child in danger.
Once again, the problem is who to tru...
I know a lot of really good parents. None of them are helicopter parents, and most of them might, when appropriate, practice Free Range Kids some of the time. R...
I know a lot of really good parents. None of them are helicopter parents, and most of them might, when appropriate, practice Free Range Kids some of the time. Rather than tell parents how to be parents-- a topic of little interest to me-- I want to talk about how to be a kid. I wish I had taken more risks. I read Hacker News a lot, and have been realizing more and more, how many web entrepreneurs and people who accomplish a difference are risk-takers. From what I gather, most people who learn to...
1. I've been invited to teach a workshop this Saturday evening at the hackerspace i3Detroit, on how to write Interactive Fiction with InForm. This will follow t...
1. I've been invited to teach a workshop this Saturday evening at the hackerspace i3Detroit, on how to write Interactive Fiction with InForm. This will follow the screening of the documentary GET LAMP at 3 PM.
2. At Readercon, Andrew Plotkin gave a wonderful talk titled "A Writer's Guide To Interactive Fiction".
3. In a tremendous breakthrough for Interactive Fiction, you can now play it in your web browser. Actually, that's been done for a long time. But now, you can save your game, w...
That group portrait I mentioned will be delayed until my new tablet gets here. The problem with tablets is that the cords tend to get bent out of shape and stop...
That group portrait I mentioned will be delayed until my new tablet gets here. The problem with tablets is that the cords tend to get bent out of shape and stop working. The new one is cordless, so I hope it will last a good long time.
Standard issue of disclaimers, Rio Grande, etc.
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Do you someone in Portland, Oregon? Do you vouch for them? Would they be willing to let a woman sleep on their couch for a couple of weeks while looking for wor...
Do you someone in Portland, Oregon? Do you vouch for them? Would they be willing to let a woman sleep on their couch for a couple of weeks while looking for work there?
Comments
tlatoani on Aug. 31, 2010 10:48 PM
I have to ask, why would anyone go to Portland to look for work? The job market is awful there.
matt-arnold on Aug. 31, 2010 10:54 PM
Because they're going to get free travel to go to Portland for a conference, and because of hearing legendary stories of how awesome it is to live in P...
Disclaimer 1: This is an unofficial fan-made expansion to the card game Dominion. All rights to Dominion are the publisher Rio Grande Games and the designer Don...
Disclaimer 1: This is an unofficial fan-made expansion to the card game Dominion. All rights to Dominion are the publisher Rio Grande Games and the designer Donald X. Vaccarino.
Disclaimer 2: Some of these have not been playtested and will certainly need to be tweaked. Want to playtest them?
Disclaimer 3: These have to be fun cards to play with. In order to be fun and worthwhile, a Dominion card must do enough awesome things to be worth choosing during the game, but with some kind of disadvantag...
My Flash teacher just offered me a paying gig as an illustrator for one of his clients! This is my chance to get contacts in a professional network!
Comments
a...
My Flash teacher just offered me a paying gig as an illustrator for one of his clients! This is my chance to get contacts in a professional network!
Comments
atropis on Aug. 28, 2010 2:16 AM
yay!
Forgive me for being less responsive than usual lately. I've been in Cleveland for the past several days without internet access, except when in a public librar...
Forgive me for being less responsive than usual lately. I've been in Cleveland for the past several days without internet access, except when in a public library. The jury-rigged super antenna has not availed me.
I'm back home overnight, going back tomorrow AM, planning to return Saturday. It has been a delightful trip, with a wonderful road companion, and just as wonderful a host.
I saw a lot of Cleveland, and played a lot of Dominion in Cleveland. Did you know it's a cool city? I didn't expect...
dominion.isotropic.org is a new place to play the card game Dominion online. It's a fast-loading text interface. Unlike the German site Brettspeilwelt.de ("...
dominion.isotropic.org is a new place to play the card game Dominion online. It's a fast-loading text interface. Unlike the German site Brettspeilwelt.de ("BoardGameWorld"), isotropic implements all the cards (except Black Market and Stash, because... I'm not sure how they would even do that).
If you don't like finding your way around the Flash interface of Brettspielwelt, and if you just want to jump into a game of Dominion, and if you don't mind the lack of pretty pictures, and if yo...
There is a situation that constantly arises for me in organizing a project, in which the following happens.
1. I take a risk on letting a new, unproven person t...
There is a situation that constantly arises for me in organizing a project, in which the following happens.
1. I take a risk on letting a new, unproven person take on a responsibility, because there are no proven people accepting the job.
2. The new, unproven person starts letting emails from inquirers pile up in their inbox and not respond to them for months. This constitutes "not doing the job" by definition of the job.
3. The inquirers start emailing me and others asking if it is ev...
Will Cole and I won third place in the Dresden Codak Reenactment Contest for our video "Caveman Science Fiction"! You can see all the winners here.
Co...
Will Cole and I won third place in the Dresden Codak Reenactment Contest for our video "Caveman Science Fiction"! You can see all the winners here.
Comments
none
This was a triumph. I'm MakerFairing a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. (It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.)
Our exhibit was placed prominently near the museum ent...
This was a triumph. I'm MakerFairing a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. (It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.)
Our exhibit was placed prominently near the museum entrance. We won a MAKE Magazine Editor's Choice Award!
During Friday setup, the main computer's hard drive refused to boot when we got it to the exhibit. It still was not working at the end of the day. I frequently heard from other Makers that they didn't make it to the Meet And Greet with other Makers because, like us, they were still sett...
Saturday and Sunday I amd Alan Contino will demonstrate a magnetic system for capturing a performance as animation, live before your very eyes. If you're lucky,...
Saturday and Sunday I amd Alan Contino will demonstrate a magnetic system for capturing a performance as animation, live before your very eyes. If you're lucky, we may pick you out of the audience to wear the magnets. Our exhibit will contain two bonus features: see yourself on a 3D TV, and a character will lip sync to you as you speak into a microphone!
MakerFaire is like a huge science fair for garage technologists and do-it-yourselfers! There are exhibits both inside and outside Henry Ford Mu...
Comments
atropis on Jul. 23, 2010 10:59 PM
so *that's* what the brownie batter was all about...
flinx on Jul. 24, 2010 2:01 AM — Bravo!
I say, good show! Does...
Comments
atropis on Jul. 23, 2010 10:59 PM
so *that's* what the brownie batter was all about...
flinx on Jul. 24, 2010 2:01 AM — Bravo!
I say, good show! Does Mr. Codak know of your homage? I was vastly amused when I read the original, and I say this quite a good take on them.
matt-arnold on Jul. 24, 2010 1:13 PM — Re: Bravo!
He does know of it! We submitted it as an entry in his Dresden Codak Re-Enactment Contest.
It looks like I get to go to GenCon Indy! I will be working as a demonstrator for Mayfair, setting up and teaching their games in the exhibit hall. Wednesday, A...
It looks like I get to go to GenCon Indy! I will be working as a demonstrator for Mayfair, setting up and teaching their games in the exhibit hall. Wednesday, August 5, through Sunday, August 8. I haven't been there in about five or six years!
Comments
amanda_lodden on Jul. 23, 2010 3:43 AM
Woot! We should get together for lunch or dinner or whatever your schedule allows.
matt-arnold on Jul. 23, 2010 3:44 AM
Sure!
shoubushi on Jul. 23, 2010 10:44 PM
Hey, glad to hear you're making it. I usual...
Can a Smelter produce more than a Forge? Is a Mill better than a Press? What's more heavy-duty, Welding or Riveting?
[Poll #1594123]
Comments
desfontaines on J...
Can a Smelter produce more than a Forge? Is a Mill better than a Press? What's more heavy-duty, Welding or Riveting?
[Poll #1594123]
Comments
desfontaines on Jul. 19, 2010 8:55 PM
Smelters get you the metal from the ore, and the forge is where you shape the metal. Mills are where you process the raw material (as in a steel mill), and you use a press to shape the raw material.
I'm not quite as sure of a good explanation for riveter/welder, but IMHO rivets are easy to do compared to welding, whic...
My friend Will and I shot a film this afternoon with his sisters. Afterward, his dad was swimming in their pool, when he saw us walking toward him across the fi...
My friend Will and I shot a film this afternoon with his sisters. Afterward, his dad was swimming in their pool, when he saw us walking toward him across the field. His daughter guided me by the wrist as I gingerly picked my way through the alfalfa. I was wearing only boxer shorts and dark brown slime, which dripped from my head to coat most of my body.
"What happened to you?" he cried as they hosed me down.
"I lost my glasses." The brownie mix would take too long to explain ...
Never build a level two show in the game of Coliseum, and never build the University in the game of Puerto Rico. They're priced wrong, so that all other options...
Never build a level two show in the game of Coliseum, and never build the University in the game of Puerto Rico. They're priced wrong, so that all other options are always better by the time you can buy them. It's a shame, because each and every piece of equipment printed in a game offers a strategic choice, and it's wasted unless there is a circumstance under which it's strategically advantageous to use it. That's the kind of flaw I'm looking for in Ingeniators, and I'm happy when playtesters d...
Protospiel advises game designers that they will be lucky to get to playtest more than one of their games during the weekend. Fortunately, attendance this year ...
Protospiel advises game designers that they will be lucky to get to playtest more than one of their games during the weekend. Fortunately, attendance this year was high enough (easily more than 60 at its peak) that there were playtesters waiting around for something to play. They were eager to play both of my games, which ran three or four times each! Both games attracted tremendous interest. I consider both of them publishable and ready.
I spent the rest of the time playtesting the games of oth...
I know I'm on to something when I think "what should I do next with my day?" and my first thought is "open 3D software and work on modeling and r...
I know I'm on to something when I think "what should I do next with my day?" and my first thought is "open 3D software and work on modeling and rigging my character."
When I wonder about whether I will be outcompeted in the animation industry, I just think of all the people who dropped out of the program, or thought of joining it but didn't, because they say it's too monotonous or they lack the patience. Well. I do not lack it. For me, catching a tiny flicker in one marker ou...
Protospiel is this weekend! It's a playtesting convention for board and card game designers, and playtesters who feel they can offer feedback that is specific a...
Protospiel is this weekend! It's a playtesting convention for board and card game designers, and playtesters who feel they can offer feedback that is specific and useful. You get a sheet to record how many games by others you have playtested. When you have enough of them, you get your own game playtested. I submitted Ingeniators and Pantropia, both of which I have refined for years.
It's at the Clarion Hotel on Jackson in Ann Arbor, 9:00 Friday morning to 7:00 PM Sunday around the clock. Admissi...
A complete animated short takes a very long time to build from scratch if done all by one person. Some of you will want to see at least something of what I've b...
A complete animated short takes a very long time to build from scratch if done all by one person. Some of you will want to see at least something of what I've been learning. Here's an image of Drol as a work in progress.
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To those of you who are Americans, Happy Independence Day. And now to discuss politics!
I seldom do this, because I am about to present the latest embarrassment...
To those of you who are Americans, Happy Independence Day. And now to discuss politics!
I seldom do this, because I am about to present the latest embarrassment to my future self. But I have to decide how to exercise my citizenship, as best I can.
I recall visiting "The American Adventure" (a show in the American pavilion of World Showcase in Epcot Center), and coming out feeling like I agreed with the sentiments expressed; only to realize, on later re-listening, that it could be inter...
This variant has adjustable dice (a deck of cards), adjustable target numbers, adjustable price menus, and hexes that can be adjusted to produce multiple resour...
This variant has adjustable dice (a deck of cards), adjustable target numbers, adjustable price menus, and hexes that can be adjusted to produce multiple resources. Play Settlers of Catan as normal except for the following differences.
Seven is not a special number. A sum of seven does not allow the player to steal from another player, or anything to happen to the thief token.
Setup
Use two hexes of each type of resource (wood, brick, wheat, sheep, ore) and eight deserts. To get extra deserts, f...
I am amused by this fanfic, which describes what would have happened if Harry Potter had been sufficiently adult at the age of eleven to excel in skeptical ment...
I am amused by this fanfic, which describes what would have happened if Harry Potter had been sufficiently adult at the age of eleven to excel in skeptical mental habits. I found out about it through saizai. An excerpt:
"I... see," Professor McGonagall said. "And if, say, you were to discover the entrance to Salazar Slytherin's legendary Chamber of Secrets, an entrance that you and you alone could open..."
"I would close the entrance and report to you at once so that a ...
I tire of this endless onslaught of bullshit, and I am not getting it off my chest often enough.
I just got done listening to Polyamory Weekly episode Christian...
I tire of this endless onslaught of bullshit, and I am not getting it off my chest often enough.
I just got done listening to Polyamory Weekly episode Christianity & sexual ethics (MP3 link), in which a listener calls in to say that it is possible to be Christian and sex-positive, obviously, because he is.
It does not work to say "You can be Christian and X, because I am" and fill in the X with whatever you want. Go ahead. Fill in the X and use your imagination for a while. Leave i...
After serving as a gateway into the board game hobby, Settlers of Catan gets boring. I propose many of the issues would be fixed by replacing the dice with a de...
After serving as a gateway into the board game hobby, Settlers of Catan gets boring. I propose many of the issues would be fixed by replacing the dice with a deck of cards with 1 through 6 on them. Instead of rolling two dice and summing them, draw two cards and sum them. One of the things for which you can pay with your resources is to put a new copy of a card in the deck, or remove one. If you've built all your settlements on high numbers, or low numbers, or evens, or odds, you try to get more...
With a video camera, I can finally start showing all of you the games I have invented over the years. I invented this game in 2008. I have since fixed a couple ...
With a video camera, I can finally start showing all of you the games I have invented over the years. I invented this game in 2008. I have since fixed a couple of issues and have put the new version of the rules in this post below the cut.
The Rules of Rock Paper Scissors Tiles
Equipment:
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It brings a smile to my face when I think that I'm getting paid to do motion capture work. I'm helping out a student from the mocap performer class. Unlike a te...
It brings a smile to my face when I think that I'm getting paid to do motion capture work. I'm helping out a student from the mocap performer class. Unlike a tech, it's not a performer's job to clean their own data, so the instructors pointed him my way. It's at a lawn-mowing pay grade, but it feels like the first dollar taped over a cash register.
Comments
atropis on Jun. 15, 2010 12:45 AM
:)
"Where is the bottle of Emeril's Original Essence?"
"We used it up."
"But where's the bottle?"
"In the dumpster out back. We ...
"Where is the bottle of Emeril's Original Essence?"
"We used it up."
"But where's the bottle?"
"In the dumpster out back. We used it up."
"All I need is the bottle! It's exactly two inches in diameter. It's the only round item that fits in the espresso basket as a coffee tamper!"
With luck, someone will give me a 2-inch coffee tamper for my birthday next week. It's always been out of stock when I've looked in coffee shops or stores.
Comments
des...
Regardless of whether it leads to an improved career, I am having the time of my life learning animation software.
In A Theory Of Fun For Game Design, Raph Kost...
Regardless of whether it leads to an improved career, I am having the time of my life learning animation software.
In A Theory Of Fun For Game Design, Raph Koster wrote:
Fun is just another word for learning. Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. With games, learning is the drug.
In school, I never liked math. But my favorite games all involve math. Every turn of Stone Age involves division, for Pete's sake!...
There must be dirty power to this apartment, because my laptop's new power/supply cord died just like the last one. All the other computers are on an uninterrup...
There must be dirty power to this apartment, because my laptop's new power/supply cord died just like the last one. All the other computers are on an uninterruptable power supply.
Except for my roommates' laptops... hmmm...
Comments
jodybrai on Jun. 4, 2010 5:05 PM
Do you always use one specific outlet?
matt-arnold on Jun. 4, 2010 5:08 PM
No. I use outlets on different circuits.
plasmonicgrid on Jun. 4, 2010 6:29 PM
Are your outlets properly grounded?
matt-arnold on Jun. 4, 2010 7:56 PM
I do...
J doesn't have a functioning CD and/or DVD drive on her laptop right now. She needs to borrow an external USB one for a week or so to perform an install. Can an...
J doesn't have a functioning CD and/or DVD drive on her laptop right now. She needs to borrow an external USB one for a week or so to perform an install. Can anyone help?
Comments
plasmonicgrid on May. 27, 2010 3:29 AM
I might not be of any help with this, but..
Is it an OS install? and if so, can the machine boot off a flash drive? If so, she might be able get an ISO made from the CD/DVD and then put it onto a flash drive. Assuming it's PC-like.. not sure about macs.
My laptop doesn't have an ...
I am going to collect info here as it develops. Here is what is needed for Michigan to host a semifinals in the 2010 Rio Grande Game Design Competition, followe...
I am going to collect info here as it develops. Here is what is needed for Michigan to host a semifinals in the 2010 Rio Grande Game Design Competition, followed by more detailed rules, information, and links to resources.
U-Con is one week before the Chicago Toy and Game Fair, when Jay Tummelson will judge the finalists in the national competition. Therefore, if the semifinals are at U-Con, each contestant must either make tentative plans to get their own lodging in Chicago for the finals, or ...
Today I gathered up a sealed PodDisc CD mailer box, a roll of pre-printed address labels, a customs form label, three Amazon.com shipping receipt printouts, and...
Today I gathered up a sealed PodDisc CD mailer box, a roll of pre-printed address labels, a customs form label, three Amazon.com shipping receipt printouts, and my financial aid refund check. I went out to the car and deposited the contents of my hands onto the passenger seat.
I drove to the post office with the window down in place of air conditioning. There, I took three copies of the hardcover The Complete Lojban Language out of a box in my back seat. I picked up the contents of the passenger...
Please forward this to any board/card game designers who you know. U-Con has submitted our proposal to host local finals for this year's Rio Grande game design ...
Please forward this to any board/card game designers who you know. U-Con has submitted our proposal to host local finals for this year's Rio Grande game design competition. If Michigan is to have a chance to host a finals location, I need to tell Rio Grande's coordinator how many game designers around here are interested. I will post more details soon, but please, if there is even a conditional chance that you will be interested, contact me ASAP to let me know. If we don't have enough designers ...
I'm going to Ann Arbor for a U-Con concom meeting, from 6:30 until probably about 7:30 or 8:00. After that I will stay in town until about 10:00. Does anyone in...
I'm going to Ann Arbor for a U-Con concom meeting, from 6:30 until probably about 7:30 or 8:00. After that I will stay in town until about 10:00. Does anyone in that area want to hang out?
Comments
dnance02 on May. 18, 2010 2:34 PM
Bill, Moonbeam, myself, and possible others may be playing laser tag tonight. Tuesdays are $4 game night at ZapZone.
dnance02 on May. 19, 2010 10:23 AM
Oops, wrong day. Some other time. :)
Confirmed. The problem was not a bad laptop battery. The problem was that the power supply/cord doesn't transmit power from the outlet to the laptop. has the sa...
Confirmed. The problem was not a bad laptop battery. The problem was that the power supply/cord doesn't transmit power from the outlet to the laptop. has the same model laptop and brought it to the gaming party last night. Her cable charged up my laptop's battery. It wasn't fried-- just depleted.
Comments
merlyntemple on May. 16, 2010 10:18 PM
Glad we figured it out! :)
thefile on May. 17, 2010 3:28 AM
Sounds like a not-too-expensive fix
I got a cheaper phone provider, with the same phone number. My new handset has a keyboard! I am entering the world of texting. It is now a workable communicatio...
I got a cheaper phone provider, with the same phone number. My new handset has a keyboard! I am entering the world of texting. It is now a workable communication medium for me.
Here is my first twitpic, of my new Dominion storage box. I sleeved all the cards, printed, cut and painted the index tabs yesterday.
Comments
merlyntemple on May. 16, 2010 7:17 PM
Wow, mine doesn't even have a keyboard yet! Nice! I'll probably be getting a new phone near the end of the year, though. *crossing my fingers...
Yesterday the replacement battery arrived for my Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. For some reason, they gave me two of them! When I put in the new battery, my laptop...
Yesterday the replacement battery arrived for my Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. For some reason, they gave me two of them! When I put in the new battery, my laptop turned on. Exultant, I turned it off and went to bed to let it charge. This morning it is having the same problem. When I push the power button, the computer does not start up. The battery light and hard drive light slowly blink red until I release the power button. Just as before, it will not run even if plugged in.
Perhaps it is an ove...
The Maya 3D animation instructor has no idea how happy he is making me right now. I'm an expert in Adobe Illustrator, which creates vector art in 2D. I have oft...
The Maya 3D animation instructor has no idea how happy he is making me right now. I'm an expert in Adobe Illustrator, which creates vector art in 2D. I have often wished that I could take my beautiful, precise, intricate Illustrator drawings into 3D software to lathe or extrude them into 3D-- or even connect two curves to turn them into the opposite edges of a curved 3D surface. He's showing the class how to import from Illustrator right now!
Comments
sorcycat on May. 12, 2010 4:41 PM
So you co...
Jen signed up for Intermediate Motion Capture with me, to prevent them canceling the class for lack of students. Almost all the other students dropped out of th...
Jen signed up for Intermediate Motion Capture with me, to prevent them canceling the class for lack of students. Almost all the other students dropped out of the program. Class starts tomorrow.
We are spending today in open lab hours at the Virtual Theatricality Lab, giving Jen a crash course in one day to learn everything I have learned (minus all the practice I've had). In one day, her project almost caught up to mine.
Our learning styles differ. I push forward toward completion of the instruc...
Finals week is over, so I have time for the writeup of the epic uber-convention that took place a week ago. (I was also delayed by my laptop going kaput. The ba...
Finals week is over, so I have time for the writeup of the epic uber-convention that took place a week ago. (I was also delayed by my laptop going kaput. The battery, which has never held a charge, will now no longer allow the flow power when plugged in. I have purchased a new battery.)
1. Polyamory Meetup
Friday night's Polyamory Round Table, and the Meetup that followed, packed out Ballroom H. There were only 63 audience chairs, so some people got into really friendly seating arrangements.
My ...
Behold my final project.
Comments
bob921 on May. 4, 2010 3:25 AM
Pretty sweet.
A small bug I see is that if I hit "next" to go through all the Presen...
Behold my final project.
Comments
bob921 on May. 4, 2010 3:25 AM
Pretty sweet.
A small bug I see is that if I hit "next" to go through all the Presentation pics, then if I go back all the way with "previous", I no longer see the intermediate, "burst of empathy" slide.
Just figured I'd let you know.
matt-arnold on May. 4, 2010 1:39 PM
A giant purple bug ate the second slide!
Actually the Print section has the same problem. The teacher explained that it is a problem...
Do you have a KVM switch you don't need?
Comments
tlatoani on Apr. 29, 2010 3:19 AM
Yes, but it's old, so it's not USB.
chirex on (None)
netrackindia on (Non...
Do you have a KVM switch you don't need?
Comments
tlatoani on Apr. 29, 2010 3:19 AM
Yes, but it's old, so it's not USB.
chirex on (None)
netrackindia on (None)
metalstoragesys on (None)
ramanaenterpris on (None)
After years of near-joblessness, this was very abrupt-- My cousin phoned today to ask for my resume, because he recommended me to a friend who is hiring. His fr...
After years of near-joblessness, this was very abrupt-- My cousin phoned today to ask for my resume, because he recommended me to a friend who is hiring. His friend phoned me immediately. Tomorrow I interview for a boring job as an Asset Manager for an ad agency. I would upload and sort marketing images and copy for a corporate borganism, helping them pollute the world in at least two different ways: exhaust fumes, and advertisements.
The job description is easy to understand. It calls for no sk...
Today has been designated "Boobquake", in which the public can test the hypothesis of an Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, that immodest dre...
Today has been designated "Boobquake", in which the public can test the hypothesis of an Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, that immodest dress causes earthquakes. Women, if you wish to participate in the experiment, please wear your most revealing low-cut shirt today.
Dan Savage has declared May 20, 2010 the first annual "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." I drew mine last night and will post it on May 20. Even if all you can do is a stick figure labeled 'Mohammed', get ...
No film in years has affected me like "The Invention Of Lying". It depicts a world in which there is no lying, no fiction, and no religious faith. The...
No film in years has affected me like "The Invention Of Lying". It depicts a world in which there is no lying, no fiction, and no religious faith. Then one man invents all of that.
In recent years, I have overcome my rage at having been betrayed and deceived by those I trusted for guidance. I have come to realize that if two points of a triangle are honesty and deception, religious faith occupies the third point.
Pro wrestling is in this category. It is not exactly "fiction",...
While pondering business cards, I recalled the biography of myself in 2019 which the game Superstruct required for my profile. I liked the business card I descr...
While pondering business cards, I recalled the biography of myself in 2019 which the game Superstruct required for my profile. I liked the business card I described there. Therefore, I have decided to print some.
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I am being asked for a business card more and more often. But I don't know what to put on it. I considered just putting my name and contact info. says I shouldn...
I am being asked for a business card more and more often. But I don't know what to put on it. I considered just putting my name and contact info. says I shouldn't do that, because when they're looking through their business cards later, they won't remember who I am. She says the card should remind them of the context of the conversation. That is unrealistic, because I have too many different conversations.
I'm considering three cards:
1. Illustration, Graphic Design, Web Design. This promotes my...
They are off to the printer. You can look at PDF drafts of them on this page. I have now begun work on the tri-fold brochure with the schedule grid and errata.
...
They are off to the printer. You can look at PDF drafts of them on this page. I have now begun work on the tri-fold brochure with the schedule grid and errata.
Chrometa tells me that I worked on them for 30 hours, 8 minutes, and 50 seconds. At $20 per hour, this is a value of $600 of professional work, pro bono. I automated two time-consuming parts of the process this year, so my mind boggles at what Chrometa would have measured in previous years.
Jen made me a Python script which took the outpu...
"Rogue" and "Rouge" are two very different things.
Comments
parslaanna on Apr. 14, 2010 10:56 AM
Ah, you discovered the Sarah Palin books, ...
"Rogue" and "Rouge" are two very different things.
Comments
parslaanna on Apr. 14, 2010 10:56 AM
Ah, you discovered the Sarah Palin books, didn't you ...
matt-arnold on Apr. 14, 2010 4:04 PM
That was in the Penguicon program book, actually.
crywolf on Apr. 14, 2010 3:46 PM
The Red Bandit strikes again.
atropis on Apr. 14, 2010 3:52 PM
years ago, some friends had a band called rogue angel seven. their name got misspelled a lot.
I used to bicycle to work, five miles each way, and it was great. I got a lot of exercise, which made me sharper, more creative, and more enthusiastic. When spr...
I used to bicycle to work, five miles each way, and it was great. I got a lot of exercise, which made me sharper, more creative, and more enthusiastic. When spring came, I realized someone had broken the chain and stolen my bike out of the back yard during the winter.
There is a seven-mile bike trail from my apartment to my college. I'd like to take advantage of it, but the big problem would be where to keep a bike. I'd keep it in the storage cage in the laundry room, except it is packed to the ...
Festifools is in 8 days! It will not be this Sunday (because it's Easter) but the Sunday after that, April 11. I always go and operate the puppets! Who will go ...
Festifools is in 8 days! It will not be this Sunday (because it's Easter) but the Sunday after that, April 11. I always go and operate the puppets! Who will go with me?less
The fact that Joe vs the Volcano stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks does not mean it's typical chick-flick fare. It is a surreal parable about meaning in life. (And t...
The fact that Joe vs the Volcano stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks does not mean it's typical chick-flick fare. It is a surreal parable about meaning in life. (And the soundtrack is incredible.) I first started watching it regularly when I was a teen, and consider it by far one of my favorite films. I cannot recommend it enough.
Joe vs. the Volcano, on job satisfaction:
FRANK: (Joe's boss, yelling into the phone) No! No.
(Joe, having been diagnosed with a terminal disease, enters the office of Frank...
In my adult life, I have lacked health insurance almost as often as I have had it. Reading through the effects of last night's passing of insurance industry ref...
In my adult life, I have lacked health insurance almost as often as I have had it. Reading through the effects of last night's passing of insurance industry reform in the Washington Post, I discovered that it expands Medicaid to cover those who make $29,327 a year (for a family of four). That's more money than I've ever made. That might mean, had the Republicans not defeated similar insurance reform in the Clinton era, I would have had health insurance all this time.
I might be misinterpreting t...
The Penguicon 2010 Souvenir Book is seeking Zonker Facts. Like Chuck Norris Facts, but about Penguicon's Guest of Honor Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier. Keep ...
The Penguicon 2010 Souvenir Book is seeking Zonker Facts. Like Chuck Norris Facts, but about Penguicon's Guest of Honor Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier. Keep it Safe For Work, please. Also seeking contributions to a lengthy Disclaimer about Zonker Facts. For inspiration, see the following bios of Zonker, and one of our Nifty Guests, Patrick Rothfuss:
Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years covering IT. Formerly the openSUSE Community Manager for Novell,...
I'm at an all-night lock-in at EMU. I was invited to bring my whole game library to run the game room, and talk a lot about Penguicon. These are things that I c...
I'm at an all-night lock-in at EMU. I was invited to bring my whole game library to run the game room, and talk a lot about Penguicon. These are things that I can do until 9 in the morning!
Comments
gizelnort on (None)
matt-arnold on Mar. 15, 2010 5:44 PM
I wish it had been. I was the only geek there. I did manage to talk a couple of bored people into letting me teach them Carcassonne and Dominion, though.
Anonymous on Mar. 17, 2010 4:18 PM
Figures, I only find out about it now. Well, that's ...
I got another offer of web development contract work from someone who can't afford to pay more than what kids make mowing lawns or babysitting. I'm not talking ...
I got another offer of web development contract work from someone who can't afford to pay more than what kids make mowing lawns or babysitting. I'm not talking about a website, I'm talking about a complete web application. This client wants Jen and I to remake one of the most popular websites in the world, but with one change.
Few people realize how much work goes into programming and design on a web application. If we were really going to go full-out and make a minimum-feature-set clone of that...
Eric Drexler posted about "How to Learn About Everything", explaining a process of immersion to gain a shallow, broad, integrative understanding of th...
Eric Drexler posted about "How to Learn About Everything", explaining a process of immersion to gain a shallow, broad, integrative understanding of the connections between different knowledge domains.
Read and skim journals and textbooks that (at the moment) you only half understand. Include Science and Nature.
Don’t halt, dig a hole, and study a particular subject as if you had to pass a test on it.
Don’t avoid a subject because it seems beyond you — instead, read other half-understa...
Penny Arcade ran a comic that might be the best possible advertisement for the cooperative board game Shadows Over Camelot. The Battlestar Galactica game has a ...
Penny Arcade ran a comic that might be the best possible advertisement for the cooperative board game Shadows Over Camelot. The Battlestar Galactica game has a similar appeal, as does the bioterrorist element of the On The Brink expansion to Pandemic.
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Yesterday I woke up at dawn on a Sunday morning, to mistakenly show up a week too early for a gaming party. Friends forgive me for this. (I know, because I've s...
Yesterday I woke up at dawn on a Sunday morning, to mistakenly show up a week too early for a gaming party. Friends forgive me for this. (I know, because I've shown up a week early to many events.) However, this was going above and beyond. While surprised in their bathrobes at 10 AM on a Sunday morning, Zach and Hilary sincerely welcomed me and said they were going to play board and card games anyway and it's more fun with three. Pretty soon we wanted to play a game that required more than three...
In one of the worst naming choices for open-source software since "The Gimp", the GNOME project is considering naming their innovative new user interf...
In one of the worst naming choices for open-source software since "The Gimp", the GNOME project is considering naming their innovative new user interface element "the TaskPooper". It's a chronologically-organized "content drop-zone" for task management. Whether it manages tasks performed by the user or the computer is unspecified.
This sounds like the Windows Taskbar at the bottom of the screen, but one which prioritizes the latest things you've done.* And excretes ...
I told Jen today that when I have a problem I don't know how to solve, I blog about it because somebody on my friend list is likely to have an idea. So with her...
I told Jen today that when I have a problem I don't know how to solve, I blog about it because somebody on my friend list is likely to have an idea. So with her permission, I'm going to post this information here. Any suggestions are appreciated.
1. The Setup
A few months ago, Jen got the sort of job toward which one pursues a higher education, at a reasonable entry-level salary. But like most of her over-educated, underemployed generation, that investment costed too much.
2. The Problem
She owe...
This year's expansions for Dominion have been revealed! A small 12-card set titled Alchemy is due by Easter, and a full set titled Prosperity is scheduled for l...
This year's expansions for Dominion have been revealed! A small 12-card set titled Alchemy is due by Easter, and a full set titled Prosperity is scheduled for late in the year! That's all we know. From the reaction of uncontrolled squee, rumors, and groundless speculation, anyone would think it was the Boardgamegeek.com equivalent of Brangelina. I am as bad as any of them! The imagination reels with implications and possibilities.
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There are about ten people in the Motion Capture class. Most of them are silent all the time, as if trying to avoid notice. However, one of them-- a tall black ...
There are about ten people in the Motion Capture class. Most of them are silent all the time, as if trying to avoid notice. However, one of them-- a tall black man who I will call ShauwnDré for purposes of a public blog-- takes an interest in everyone and engages them with great enthusiasm as often as possible. Sometimes it is necessary to disengage and explain to him that I need to go to the financial aid office or my next class.
There is one downside to this tendency. During lectures, he repea...
The following is a message I sent on a forum, in response to a community organizer who said his "goal is to get involved in a social community which is fir...
The following is a message I sent on a forum, in response to a community organizer who said his "goal is to get involved in a social community which is first built on friendship, comradery, and universal acceptance. ... In an age where people are killing each other over religious beliefs, economic constructs, and sexual orientations, I think we have something very unique to offer: absolute tolerance." Here's what I said.
There is no surer way to create a tooth-and-throat fighthouse tha...
It's actually supposed to run on a loop, but the GIF version was so large that it crawled at a near-standstill.
Comments
sheryl67 on Feb. 8, 2010 7:42 PM
I ser...
It's actually supposed to run on a loop, but the GIF version was so large that it crawled at a near-standstill.
Comments
sheryl67 on Feb. 8, 2010 7:42 PM
I seriously love this. It makes me go squee!
matt-arnold on Feb. 8, 2010 7:47 PM
Thank you!
Anonymous on Feb. 8, 2010 9:20 PM — 1st flash
This is great. Can't wait for more.
matt-arnold on Feb. 8, 2010 9:37 PM — Re: 1st flash
Thanks. Who are you?
desfontaines on Feb. 8, 2010 11:11 PM
awww, so cute!
cosette-valjean on Feb. 9, 2010 2:12 PM
...
Penguicon meeting has 22 people in the living room at Castle Bradaki. They opened the door to ventilate. Immediately 8 degrees. Nate: "I'm going to die of ...
Penguicon meeting has 22 people in the living room at Castle Bradaki. They opened the door to ventilate. Immediately 8 degrees. Nate: "I'm going to die of hyponerdmia."
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Hair dryer is to ferret as laser pointer is to cat.
Comments
jodybrai on Feb. 4, 2010 5:08 PM
Does it chase the air as it hits things, or snap at the air comin...
Hair dryer is to ferret as laser pointer is to cat.
Comments
jodybrai on Feb. 4, 2010 5:08 PM
Does it chase the air as it hits things, or snap at the air coming from the nozzle? Vid plz? Sounds cute!
matt-arnold on Feb. 4, 2010 5:54 PM
Both! I wish I had a video camera. I would use it a lot. The Flip camera is the best kind, because it's simple and inexpensive. Some day.
Here is my first animation for Flash class. The instructor told us it should just be a stick figure. So I immediately wanted to animate an xkcd comic strip. rec...
Here is my first animation for Flash class. The instructor told us it should just be a stick figure. So I immediately wanted to animate an xkcd comic strip. recommended one that contained a simple repeating motion.
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Few of you probably recognized that the title of Terry Gilliam's awe-inspiring new "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"* is a reference to The Children'...
Few of you probably recognized that the title of Terry Gilliam's awe-inspiring new "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"* is a reference to The Children's Corner Suite by Claude Debussy. I have had a cassette tape of the Children's Corner Suite since I was a child, and it took me on voyages of visual imagination comparable to that of Gilliam, if perhaps not as talented as his.
Wikipedia says that Gradus ad Parnassum means "Steps to Mount Parnassus", and that Parnassus is a mount...
At least once a week, somebody at college makes a remark about my catalog case.
"Here comes suitcase guy."
"Is that yours? Really?"
"Wh...
At least once a week, somebody at college makes a remark about my catalog case.
"Here comes suitcase guy."
"Is that yours? Really?"
"What have you got in there?"
Mainly I have a laptop, a jumbo-size touch-sensitive drawing tablet, a mouse, headphones, class paperwork, the two textbooks for today's classes, and dinner. I don't want this stuff banging around in a backpack.
Oh, and often I also have a card box with several pounds of Dominion cards. (You never know.)
I ...
I once bought a tiny USB flash drive, about the size of an SD card, to embed in a necklace pendant. I tried to cast the pendant in bronze, but my wax carving wa...
I once bought a tiny USB flash drive, about the size of an SD card, to embed in a necklace pendant. I tried to cast the pendant in bronze, but my wax carving was too detailed and it came out as a wad of bronze slag.
I don't know much about jewelry design. What should the pendant look like? It needs to have the plug of the drive sticking out of the bottom.
Comments
sarahmichigan on Feb. 3, 2010 3:46 PM
I don't know much about jewelry design either, but it sounds like a neat project. Perhaps you ...
Many of you stuck with Firefox for its add-ons, rather than switch to Google Chrome. Chrome extensions are now here, including AdBlock, Better Gmail, Mini Googl...
Many of you stuck with Firefox for its add-ons, rather than switch to Google Chrome. Chrome extensions are now here, including AdBlock, Better Gmail, Mini Google Maps, tab handlers, download managers, synchronizing bookmarks among all your computers, notifiers for GMail, Google Reader, Google Voice, and Google Wave, and one that notifies of all four of them at the same time.
Mozilla and Firefox have always had a special place in my heart for what was achieved against the horrors of Internet Expl...
You know that suspenseful feeling you get when you have a strategy for your current game, and you think it will probably work, but you're not sure? I love that ...
You know that suspenseful feeling you get when you have a strategy for your current game, and you think it will probably work, but you're not sure? I love that feeling. That was the culmination of the Dominion tournament. Since there was no prize, I let myself compete in order to round out the number of players for even games. I made it to the championship game with Jordan Malokofsky, Scott Colcord, and Eric S. Raymond.
It was intense. We randomly drew a set of cards that we dubbed The Pain Set ...
I am pleasantly surprised that the program book content I was given was mostly accurate. Apologies for having cast aspersions on its veracity. When I put that m...
I am pleasantly surprised that the program book content I was given was mostly accurate. Apologies for having cast aspersions on its veracity. When I put that much work into one of the biggest expenses of the convention, I want it to be useful to attendees. It is stressful and demoralizing to me to have conflicting documents, and obvious clues pointing to a lack of attention, which undermined my confidence in the team during that process-- particularly since I've seen programming teams waste my ...
In Maya, I animated a ball bouncing.
Comments
jodybrai on Jan. 22, 2010 12:29 AM
Woot! Now put a smiley face on it, and make it into an avatar. I'll give you a...
In Maya, I animated a ball bouncing.
Comments
jodybrai on Jan. 22, 2010 12:29 AM
Woot! Now put a smiley face on it, and make it into an avatar. I'll give you a dollar for it!
I need a membership in a private Bittorrent tracker that has art and animation software. Can anyone hook me up?
Comments
rbradakis on Jan. 25, 2010 9:01 PM
I h...
I need a membership in a private Bittorrent tracker that has art and animation software. Can anyone hook me up?
Comments
rbradakis on Jan. 25, 2010 9:01 PM
I haven't gone looking, but I'm betting that you can find something at Demonoid. I can invite you there if you like.
Here are the events I will run at ConFusion science fiction convention this weekend:
Dominion Tournament, Saturday, 8 to 10 PM, Mediterranean Room
The game that...
Here are the events I will run at ConFusion science fiction convention this weekend:
Dominion Tournament, Saturday, 8 to 10 PM, Mediterranean Room
The game that launched the wildly popular deck-building genre. Sets will be drawn from all expansions.
Marionette Construction, Sunday, 10 to 11 AM, Salon H
An instructive slide presentation on construction of eighteen-inch-tall, fourteen-string marionettes. Topics include weights and joints for natural-looking movement; hinged jaw construction; contr...
Two items on the topic of assertiveness, the sexes, and success stories that aren't.
1. Clay Shirky wrote a blog post about how fewer women than men are self-ag...
Two items on the topic of assertiveness, the sexes, and success stories that aren't.
1. Clay Shirky wrote a blog post about how fewer women than men are self-aggrandizing jerks. A relevant quote:
They aren’t just bad at behaving like arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks. They are bad at behaving like self-promoting narcissists, anti-social obsessives, or pompous blowhards, even a little bit, even temporarily, even when it would be in their best interests to do so. Whatever bad things you can say ab...
This happens to me about twice a year. You don't see it, because I keep most of it buttoned up, but convention program book contributors (or the program book de...
This happens to me about twice a year. You don't see it, because I keep most of it buttoned up, but convention program book contributors (or the program book designer, depending on which role I am not) drive me to my knees in an inchoate rage. Some are better, some are worse. This is one of the worse ones. I am patching together the latest (the latest what? "Documents" with scare quotes? Depositions at gunpoint?) mere tissue of contradictions, as best I can, knowing that there is no ti...
I need some of you fine people to check the ConFusion 2010 program book draft for errors. You can download the 9 megabyte PDF file from a link you will find on ...
I need some of you fine people to check the ConFusion 2010 program book draft for errors. You can download the 9 megabyte PDF file from a link you will find on [this page](
http://drop.io/ConFusion2010proof).
This goes to print start-of-business Monday morning, so unfortunately there is only Saturday and Sunday in which to proof. Please email me or comment below to submit your corrections.
Comments
jodybrai on Jan. 16, 2010 1:15 PM
Is there going to be a full game schedule? I see that in your p...
On the suggestion of , I used RKill to disable the malware processes on my laptop, but they just started back up again immediately. I suspect it was done by a r...
On the suggestion of , I used RKill to disable the malware processes on my laptop, but they just started back up again immediately. I suspect it was done by a rootkit-- perched, spiderlike, at the heart of all authority in my system. This means I will have to erase my hard drive and start over.
Comments
drew4096 on Jan. 15, 2010 10:39 PM
Consider switching to Linux? Or better yet use a Linux LiveCD transferred to a USB drive. That way disinfecting
the system, if it's ever needed, would be as ea...
I need a storyline for my motion capture animation demo reel, and one came to me in a dream last night. It's called Earth Exhibit. I was on display somewhere wi...
I need a storyline for my motion capture animation demo reel, and one came to me in a dream last night. It's called Earth Exhibit. I was on display somewhere with low gravity, along with some other life forms from earth. Specifically, lions. Lots and lots of hungry lions, one of whom had it in for me. The walls of the cavernous enclosure were covered in convenient chain netting for the lions to climb in the low gravity. Fortunately for me, I had been placed in an impenetrable spherical flying cr...
Installing Flash resulted in a flurry of virus, Trojan, worm, and rootkit attacks on my system. I cancelled the install. My antivirus detected most of the malwa...
Installing Flash resulted in a flurry of virus, Trojan, worm, and rootkit attacks on my system. I cancelled the install. My antivirus detected most of the malware. But according to the warning announcement on my new wallpaper, something got through. I'm scanning the whole system with Avast now.
Comments
guyfie on Jan. 14, 2010 4:53 AM
If you detect virut, you have real problems. Dr. Web Live CD is your only hope.
rbradakis on Jan. 15, 2010 1:01 PM
If you have active malware, you can also try t...
I got into Flash class despite the overflow, because I can bring my own laptop to use! So this semester I'll take Flash, Javascript, and Motion Capture.
Comment...
I got into Flash class despite the overflow, because I can bring my own laptop to use! So this semester I'll take Flash, Javascript, and Motion Capture.
Comments
jodybrai on Jan. 12, 2010 1:07 PM
Who'd have thought that the laptop would be such a great investment for a college student studying software. . .
;)
users on Jan. 12, 2010 1:38 PM
Who is teaching you Javascript?
matt-arnold on (None)
matt-arnold on Jan. 12, 2010 4:14 PM
S. Peterson.
arran4 on Jan. 13, 2010 3:55 AM
Which one out of...
Scientists and philosophers of science are auto-tuned to break out into song, in these music videos of clips from shows such as Cosmos. Featuring the words and ...
Scientists and philosophers of science are auto-tuned to break out into song, in these music videos of clips from shows such as Cosmos. Featuring the words and voices of Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Feynman, Bill Nye, Robert Jastrow, Richard Dawkins, and Michio Kaku.
"I know that the molecules in my body are traceable
To phenomena in the cosmos
That makes me want to grab people in the street
And say, HAVE YOU HEARD THIS?"
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Comments
inf...
The staff liaisons to the convention guests lead busy lives and have a lot to do. I think that's why they ignore my instructions on biographies about their gues...
The staff liaisons to the convention guests lead busy lives and have a lot to do. I think that's why they ignore my instructions on biographies about their guests, such as word count limit. Personally, I think a program book bio should serve only as introductions to who the guest of honor is, what made them noteworthy, and why a random stranger should care. Maybe afterward, if there's space, it can offer tidbits for those who are already their fans, like hometown, education, spouse, and pets. Mo...
When I attend a funeral, wedding, or other function in a church, every time someone says "God", I mentally substitute "Michael Scott" from t...
When I attend a funeral, wedding, or other function in a church, every time someone says "God", I mentally substitute "Michael Scott" from the television show "The Office".
We are told, for instance, that such events are not about the deceased, or the bride and groom. It is all about the glory of Michael Scott. The reason the institution of marriage makes so many people happy in our world today (ahem) is that it was invented by Michael Scott to bring power and glory...
I lived a new life during the past seven or so years. So, the story of the aughts is the only story to be told about the new me; there is no other; I already ha...
I lived a new life during the past seven or so years. So, the story of the aughts is the only story to be told about the new me; there is no other; I already have said enough on this blog concerning making up for lost time.
I will say only one thing: I wore these glasses for ten years. The padding has peeled off the bridge. I mistakenly used a paint-stripping abrasive soap on the lenses, which chafed part of their coating, looking like a ragged coastline. The earpieces are peeling their padding,...
I taught Zeke, our ferret, to play Dominion. I got Dominion for Christmas, and am so in love with this card game that I've been teaching everyone to play it.
Go...
I taught Zeke, our ferret, to play Dominion. I got Dominion for Christmas, and am so in love with this card game that I've been teaching everyone to play it.
Good grief, training ferrets is exponentially harder than herding cats! Plus, he can't shuffle because he doesn't have thumbs. That's fine, I do it for him. He leaves his cards face-up and I politely don't look at them. He keeps forgetting he does not need to discard the Moat when it protects him from an attack.
You're probably thinking I'm...
- I'm in Cleveland this week. I made it in before the snow fell. I'll return briefly, only to go to Indiana for the weekend.
- There is no internet or mobile ph...
- I'm in Cleveland this week. I made it in before the snow fell. I'll return briefly, only to go to Indiana for the weekend.
- There is no internet or mobile phone access in this apartment, but there is in the library, and it is practically next door.
- Yesterday I tried a new substance. It had no effect on me that I could detect, except for the pain.
- There is a vintage 80s toy store here. What a blast from the past!
Comments
netmouse on Dec. 29, 2009 5:28 PM
The pain? was the substance suppo...
Via , here is a song for your Christmas that I find very interesting and perhaps you will also. I intend to look into the works of Tim Minchin further.
Comments...
Via , here is a song for your Christmas that I find very interesting and perhaps you will also. I intend to look into the works of Tim Minchin further.
Comments
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My ethernet switch just burned out. I've got to switch an ethernet cable between computers to do my shipping now. Has somebody local got a spare ethernet switch...
My ethernet switch just burned out. I've got to switch an ethernet cable between computers to do my shipping now. Has somebody local got a spare ethernet switch sitting around that they don't want? If you'd be willing to part with it, I'd appreciate it. Newegg has one for $13, so I'd be willing to pay $7 for yours if you don't want to just give it away.
Comments
drew4096 on Dec. 14, 2009 8:56 PM
Will a hub do?
matt-arnold on Dec. 14, 2009 9:55 PM
Yeah, that would be fine. I'd need at least 5 p...
Adults shamed a girl into taking her own life because she texted a photo of her breasts to a teenage boy. Are those adults someone who I would want to have in m...
Adults shamed a girl into taking her own life because she texted a photo of her breasts to a teenage boy. Are those adults someone who I would want to have in my life? No. Do they have part of the blame? Yes. Do they deserve scorn and condemnation? Yes. Should they visit her grave in penitence? Yes.
Did they kill her?
NO. This is so frustrating, it makes me ashamed to be a liberal. Since moral panic led to this, it does not help to add moral panic in reverse.
Hope Witsell is to blame for hanging...
Hey folks, just to let you know, I have the use of my phone now, and will shortly have insurance with which to drive my car again. So, I will be re-engaged in t...
Hey folks, just to let you know, I have the use of my phone now, and will shortly have insurance with which to drive my car again. So, I will be re-engaged in the life of the community! I have taken out student loans for next semester at Henry Ford Community College to complete my Web Developer certificate with full-time classes. There is a chance that I can do it in one semester, depending on what I test out of.
Comments
jodybrai on Dec. 3, 2009 8:33 PM
WooHoo! *high Five!*
Best of luck with t...
Happy cyber Monday! I don't mind promoting things that I like, and fortunately, I am in the business of selling stuff that I like. I hear-tell you like stuff so...
Happy cyber Monday! I don't mind promoting things that I like, and fortunately, I am in the business of selling stuff that I like. I hear-tell you like stuff sometimes? I am shipping a lot for Christmas, such as the shirts and CDs/DVDs pictured (politely below the cut). I'd be happy to throw another bag on the sleigh for you on my way to the post office. If you are the Christmas-celebrating sort, I can get it shipped in time to arrive for Christmas if you place your order by Friday morning. And ...
Rio Grande Games held a board game design contest this year. Twelve candidates won preliminary rounds at playtest sessions held in their twelve local areas arou...
Rio Grande Games held a board game design contest this year. Twelve candidates won preliminary rounds at playtest sessions held in their twelve local areas around the U.S. Their prize was a free attendance badge to the Chicago Game and Toy Fair, and an interview there with Jay Tummelson.
Rio Grande is a titan of the industry, publisher of Carcassonne, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Puerto Rico, and Stone Age-- an impressive percentage of "The Hotness" list on Boardgamegeek at any given...
Don't think of it as spending your time doing artwork with your skills, in exchange for vague promises of future money that may not materialize. Think of it as ...
Don't think of it as spending your time doing artwork with your skills, in exchange for vague promises of future money that may not materialize. Think of it as getting in on the ground floor of a company! The graphics this artist created in response to that proposal? Completely hilarious. The email exchange detailed here may or may not be fictional, but is true-to-life.
Comments
sarahmichigan on Nov. 26, 2009 12:14 PM
Best laugh I've had in a while- thanks for the link!
metalfatigue on Nov. 29...
Both a conversation and a document, Google Wave is truly amazing! It won't replace email, instant messenger, and online collaborative document editing tools, bu...
Both a conversation and a document, Google Wave is truly amazing! It won't replace email, instant messenger, and online collaborative document editing tools, but when you need all three at once, it can't be beat.
For instance, Catherine Devlin and I have been collaborating on the InForm source code for "Penguicon The Text Adventure" and I think Google Wave is an ideal space for it. So I would like to move our collaboration there.
The first Wave I have received was a group of roleplayer...
I wanted to design a game about Open Source and proprietary software for a long time. It was always difficult to get the theme to fit visually with the equipmen...
I wanted to design a game about Open Source and proprietary software for a long time. It was always difficult to get the theme to fit visually with the equipment. I think I finally hit on the right way to do it.
There is a new subgenre of game, which I'm calling "non-collectible collectible card games" or NC3s. Everyone starts with the same rudimentary deck. The game consists of building your deck during the game, by using cards from your hand to add a new card from the supply to your ...
My playtest of Ingeniators at U-Con had six attendees, despite being a four-player game. There were two others who wanted to participate but had schedule confli...
My playtest of Ingeniators at U-Con had six attendees, despite being a four-player game. There were two others who wanted to participate but had schedule conflicts.
One player, who was there with his son, disliked brainy games and spacial reasoning challenges. You always need to be careful to alleviate the feeling of intimidation that a casual gamer experiences with the typical mid-to-high-heaviness game. If you can reassure them past their initial palpable fear of boredom and humiliation, they ...
I served as the head of Ops (Operations) for U-Con gaming convention this past weekend. I also made the program book, which was a hit. I made it so that you cou...
I served as the head of Ops (Operations) for U-Con gaming convention this past weekend. I also made the program book, which was a hit. I made it so that you could cut and glue the front cover into a 20-sided die with the Earth on it instead of numbers. Laura assembled one:
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I do not have Asperger's Syndrome, but occasionally I have an Autistic Moment. Several times in my life, I have mistaken the phrase "I don't know how I can...
I do not have Asperger's Syndrome, but occasionally I have an Autistic Moment. Several times in my life, I have mistaken the phrase "I don't know how I can be more clear" for a sincere request for a tutorial. I had to learn to catch myself before it is too late.
Comments
sorcycat on Nov. 13, 2009 7:31 PM
This really clears up that moment for me. I was worried I had offended.
desfontaines on Nov. 14, 2009 1:40 AM
If I ever say that to you, please, do give me a tutorial! It would be go...
Imagine Jen and I sitting in a room. She is working on writing software, setting up servers, using asian cookware as a wireless antenna, or updating Linux on he...
Imagine Jen and I sitting in a room. She is working on writing software, setting up servers, using asian cookware as a wireless antenna, or updating Linux on her Apple laptop which dual-boots Windows and Linux but not Mac OS. I am drawing pretty pictures on my laptop with my tablet.
Guess which one of us gets approached by a stranger to ask for computer help? Me. This happens all the time.
OK, get this. This is one of those situations where you simultaneously laugh and cry.
Jen's friend who work...
I have applied to Henry Ford Community College in the Web Developer advanced certificate. I applied for the FAFSA I plan to try to transfer my credits from Wash...
I have applied to Henry Ford Community College in the Web Developer advanced certificate. I applied for the FAFSA I plan to try to transfer my credits from Washtenaw Community College for the equivalent certificate. And I will certainly test out of Photoshop class.
In the meantime, I wish I could get this job as a part-time web developer in Ann Arbor. I'd need PHP and Javascript though-- for that matter, even my CSS might have gotten a tad bit rusty these days.
For starters, what if I try to dec...
1. Divorce
2. Funerals
3. Removal of all four wisdom teeth while awake
4. Vasectomy procedure
5. The printer needs the program book but there is no schedule
6. ...
1. Divorce
2. Funerals
3. Removal of all four wisdom teeth while awake
4. Vasectomy procedure
5. The printer needs the program book but there is no schedule
6. Food service
7. Rambling, delusionally-hostile sermons delivered at jet aircraft decibels
8. Standing for half an hour during an altar call while the pastor and music minister weep and ask why our hearts are so hard
9. The Creation Museum
In no particular order.
I would rather do those things all day every day, than spend my days filling ...
Can I put any of you as references on job applications? I would need your phone numbers. Comments are screened.
Comments
tlatoani on Oct. 27, 2009 9:24 PM
Yes....
Can I put any of you as references on job applications? I would need your phone numbers. Comments are screened.
Comments
tlatoani on Oct. 27, 2009 9:24 PM
Yes. +1 734 604 2116
users on Oct. 27, 2009 10:46 PM
Absolutely.
734.754.6515
atropis on Oct. 28, 2009 5:40 AM
sure. 313 971 9003.
netmouse on Oct. 28, 2009 12:22 PM
sure. 734-649-4534
infowidget on Oct. 29, 2009 1:22 AM
Not sure if in my unemployed state, I would be much help.
216-926-9687.
I think you have my address. :)
I swear, in the last few months I've been exposed to more insults based on not being white, than in thirty-five years of life. I never heard disparagement of no...
I swear, in the last few months I've been exposed to more insults based on not being white, than in thirty-five years of life. I never heard disparagement of non-white skin colors in fundamentalist churches, in private fundamentalist schools, or at Pensacola Christian College. It was simply unheard of. But I'm suddenly hearing it now. How weird is that?
I heard "that's mighty white of you" something like a half-dozen times this year. I never heard that before. I didn't think I heard co...
U-Con's television commercial will air this Saturday night sometime between midnight and 1:30a on TV20 Detroit during Wolfman Mac's Chiller Driver-In (http://ww...
U-Con's television commercial will air this Saturday night sometime between midnight and 1:30a on TV20 Detroit during Wolfman Mac's Chiller Driver-In (http://www.nightmaresinema.com/).
You can preregister for U-Con until Tuesday Nov 3!
The exhibitors list for 2009 is posted and will be updated when more exhibitors are confirmed.
You can purchase ribbons and generic tickets during preregistration by searching for 'generic.'
Only 3 weeks until U-Con!
Staff, U-Con 2009
http://www.ucon-gaming.org
Co...
This journal entry is important for the same reason that the non-existence of Barack Obama's authentic Kenyan birth certificate is important. There is a proport...
This journal entry is important for the same reason that the non-existence of Barack Obama's authentic Kenyan birth certificate is important. There is a proportion of the population that has a serious problem finding which side of a dispute bears the burden of evidence, and whether or not extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and where faith is an acceptable substitute for evidence. I suspect if we combat that mindset, their religious experience will not wither, but will simply be...
Are you a fan of the Discovery Channel's popular commercial? And its delightful parody by the webcomic xkcd? For that matter, are you a fan of the whole world? ...
Are you a fan of the Discovery Channel's popular commercial? And its delightful parody by the webcomic xkcd? For that matter, are you a fan of the whole world? Well then, my friend, for you it has come full circle. Behold.
I Love xkcd from NoamR on Vimeo.
Comments
Anonymous on Oct. 22, 2009 7:55 PM — Job Opportunity
Thought of you!
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?sc_extcmp=JS_JobAlert_Title&ipath=PSSKGT04&psa=1&Job_DID=J3F45V6TG3RSGCS1WGL
Toni
arran4 on ...
Hey, stop, check this out! I have finally figured out the solutions to the issues plaguing what is probably the best game idea I ever had. I present Ingeniators...
Hey, stop, check this out! I have finally figured out the solutions to the issues plaguing what is probably the best game idea I ever had. I present Ingeniators. I will demo the prototype at U-Con.
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I read RaceFail09. Not all of it, of course-- who could? But I clicked through the link roundups, and the funny thing is that I found post after post of reassur...
I read RaceFail09. Not all of it, of course-- who could? But I clicked through the link roundups, and the funny thing is that I found post after post of reassurance, hand-holding, tears, group hugs, and validation of feelings among writer-workshop wannabes. I also saw a lot of uses of "safe" and "unsafe" as a hyperbolic exaggeration of "comfortable" and "uncomfortable". After an hour of searching for the good and useful comments that we were all assured we...
Good grief, I love OKCupid's blog so much. They've done it again. They do so much cool data analysis and infographics about relationships and demographics, that...
Good grief, I love OKCupid's blog so much. They've done it again. They do so much cool data analysis and infographics about relationships and demographics, that you can't look away, even if you hate their service (and I don't, I think it's great).
Here they go again with their findings on How Races And Religions Match In Online Dating. One thing they found is further indication, if any were needed, that astrological signs make absolutely no difference at all.
Also in the "not news" dep...
I showed up to the Festifools Fall carpool to find that the entire group is college students, with four teachers. I appear to have been the only one driving in ...
I showed up to the Festifools Fall carpool to find that the entire group is college students, with four teachers. I appear to have been the only one driving in from out of town or unaffiliated with the University. I looked at the registration list and saw my name in a column with the header "Student".
So I found myself in a minivan full of teen girls. I introduced them to the game "Are You The Traitor?" It was a hit.
In Grand Rapids, the teacher urged us all to do more than j...
Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, who have both written books that I enjoy and highly recommend, write a point-counterpoint on "Where Does Evolution Lea...
Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, who have both written books that I enjoy and highly recommend, write a point-counterpoint on "Where Does Evolution Leave God?" I love Mr. Dawkins' conclusion:
If sophisticated theologians or postmodern relativists think they are rescuing God from the redundancy scrap-heap by downplaying the importance of existence, they should think again. Tell the congregation of a church or mosque that existence is too vulgar an attribute to fasten onto their God...
I have not posted more puppet construction photos because the borrowed camera won't turn on. It's either the camera, or my rechargeable double-As have been rech...
I have not posted more puppet construction photos because the borrowed camera won't turn on. It's either the camera, or my rechargeable double-As have been recharged for the last time. I'm currently trying to figure out if I can get my Logitech Quickcam Chat to record still photos.
Comments
none
I played solitaire Pandemic with one pawn, on the lowest difficulty setting, having randomly dealt myself the role card of Scientist. The Scientist has the spec...
I played solitaire Pandemic with one pawn, on the lowest difficulty setting, having randomly dealt myself the role card of Scientist. The Scientist has the special ability to discover a cure with four cards of the same color intead of five. I discovered the cures for all four diseases, which ends the game in victory. I decided to go on playing and attempt to eradicate all the disease cubes on the board, a feat not provided for in the rules. For instance, exhausting the Player Deck before discove...
Nobel Peace-Prize winner Norman Borlaug moved around the world to its hungriest places, breeding new strains of wheat and rice. Depending how you count, his gen...
Nobel Peace-Prize winner Norman Borlaug moved around the world to its hungriest places, breeding new strains of wheat and rice. Depending how you count, his genetically modified food saved between two hundred million to ... get this ... one billion people from starvation. It is difficult to find any other person who has saved that many lives. Quadrupling productivity of fields also reduced deforestation for more fields. Now that he has died, there should be a Norman Borlaug day.
Where is the Nor...
What a great day with Amanda, , Mara, and my brother Andy! We started with a five player game of Carcassonne, including the expansions The River, Inns & Cat...
What a great day with Amanda, , Mara, and my brother Andy! We started with a five player game of Carcassonne, including the expansions The River, Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, and Abbey & Mayor. It was my first time using Abbey & Mayor, and I loved it as much as I thought I would. Mara loaned it to me!
Then we played Kingsburg. Next sewed pants for the marionette, while the rest of us worked on the hat and made some excellent plans for other costumes and props for "...
This is a very exciting year for U-Con. We have so many new things, and so much of what you love will be back.
What's new? We are honored to have Sid Meier of C...
This is a very exciting year for U-Con. We have so many new things, and so much of what you love will be back.
What's new? We are honored to have Sid Meier of Civilization fame as our guest. He'll speak at several seminars on his games and career. We are also launching a new video game track. Our partners at Wolverine Soft (http://wolverinesoft.com) will bring console games. We have a schedule posted online for video games but it is subject to change.
Additionally, we're thrilled to host the Gen...
I tried Model Magic. "7X Easier to Use than Clay" is not true. You can sculpt clay or plasticine. All you can do with Model Magic is wad it up. It rem...
I tried Model Magic. "7X Easier to Use than Clay" is not true. You can sculpt clay or plasticine. All you can do with Model Magic is wad it up. It reminds me of shaping wadded-up aluminum foil or plastic wrap. It's springy, and wants to keep its shape. The seams won't smooth over, so it clearly looks like lumps that have been smashed together. When you try to remove some, the rest of it clings in long stretchy strands that deform the model. Uncured MM cuts with scissors, but it was dif...
In issue 265 of Ansible, science fiction author Greg Egan writes:
Powered only by two self-evident memes -- (a) that only one person in 20 million could possib...
In issue 265 of Ansible, science fiction author Greg Egan writes:
Powered only by two self-evident memes -- (a) that only one person in 20 million could possibly have a name as exotic as "Greg Egan", and (b) anything found on the web is true and should be copied without question -- photographs of an illustrious professor of electrical engineering from Monash University have been popping up on obscure fannish web sites recently, next to articles about my books.
I admit mine was one su...
Can I get a PC game pad from somebody? Spelunky is a free PC game currently getting rave reviews. I adore it! This 2-D action platformer looks simple, but there...
Can I get a PC game pad from somebody? Spelunky is a free PC game currently getting rave reviews. I adore it! This 2-D action platformer looks simple, but there is much more to it than meets the eye. The more I play, the more depth I discover about how to play. It teaches you the basics and lets you learn the rest through experimentation.
"Well, you can't do that." "Really? What if you get the right item and use it with that like this?"
or
"This game doesn't have that fe...
Comments
tesral on Sep. 2, 2009 12:46 AM — Fire the transcriber
Seriously. It is a lousy transcription.
crywolf on Sep. 2, 2009 1:17 AM — Re: Fire the transcr...
Comments
tesral on Sep. 2, 2009 12:46 AM — Fire the transcriber
Seriously. It is a lousy transcription.
crywolf on Sep. 2, 2009 1:17 AM — Re: Fire the transcriber
Eye doughnut no watt ewe arr tocking ah bow. It'll ooh xa gray toomy.
and gave me this puppet to improve. It was little more than a decoration, with bulky strings and almost no control. I attached strings to the sides and back of ...
and gave me this puppet to improve. It was little more than a decoration, with bulky strings and almost no control. I attached strings to the sides and back of the head and the lower back. I re-used the original cross controller for the head, connected to the back-post by an elastic cord to keep it aimed forward. It can now look around, nod, shake its head, and bow.
Originally the hands were glued to the ends of the orange sleeves. I made jointed arms and black sleeves. I think the controller er...
"No! I did not spend my life not raping and killing people, only to get to the magical sky city and find out that the sky-cookies and sky-pie and sky-bakla...
"No! I did not spend my life not raping and killing people, only to get to the magical sky city and find out that the sky-cookies and sky-pie and sky-baklava people get to share my sky-cake!"
Comments
none
I daydreamed about this system for years, and now I get to watch it.
World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.
Comments
lorddraqo on Sep. 1, 2009 12:03 AM — Dream...
I daydreamed about this system for years, and now I get to watch it.
World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.
Comments
lorddraqo on Sep. 1, 2009 12:03 AM — Dreamsmithing
Wonderful piece of artwork, Matt. I'm ecstatic that you shared this, as I have the same feelings that you do about the interface. So I am prompted to wonder: can we create a lujvo for "dreamsmith" or "dreamcraft"?
It's 6AM. The failure of the first attempt at SMOFcamp has occupied my mind of late. It could be said to have competed for attention with the larger event in wh...
It's 6AM. The failure of the first attempt at SMOFcamp has occupied my mind of late. It could be said to have competed for attention with the larger event in which it was embedded. However, there was at least one discussion that did take place at SMOFcamp. It was a wide-ranging series of petty grievances, criticisms, and plans to avenge grudges. I tried to turn it toward constructive suggestions, to no avail. That conversation has caused me to question one of the premises of SMOFcamp: that fando...
I found this slideshow very informative.
Healthcare Napkins All
View more documents from Dan Roam.
Comments
magnus1ab on Aug. 27, 2009 1:32 AM
this is pure win...
I found this slideshow very informative.
Healthcare Napkins All
View more documents from Dan Roam.
Comments
magnus1ab on Aug. 27, 2009 1:32 AM
this is pure win! if only this could get into the hands of the people that really need to see it, instead of the people that already know better.
oh and if those people would actually listen
Michigan's new summer relaxicon had 52 attendees, although that's only who I saw. There were 38 others either within the core of fandom, known to consistently a...
Michigan's new summer relaxicon had 52 attendees, although that's only who I saw. There were 38 others either within the core of fandom, known to consistently attend relaxicons, or close to the Castle Bradaki social circle, who I was surprised weren't there. In most cases that I've heard of, they had a schedule conflict. Next year I may need to say "Hey, are you coming to ConStruct?" to more of them.
The food was great. They fed hot breakfast and dinner! The right snacks and drinks wer...
Most of you are already here and so this post is not for you, since I can talk to you in person. But for those who aren't at ConStruct, I hope you can make it o...
Most of you are already here and so this post is not for you, since I can talk to you in person. But for those who aren't at ConStruct, I hope you can make it out this weekend! It's at the Best Western in Ann Arbor.
Comments
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District 9 will shake you to your core. In fact, it may lead to a core breach, causing you to undergo emergency core ejection through your tear ducts. Possibly ...
District 9 will shake you to your core. In fact, it may lead to a core breach, causing you to undergo emergency core ejection through your tear ducts. Possibly your throat if you have a weak stomach. I warn you-- some scenes will be hard to watch, if movies are sometimes hard for you to watch.
D9 is a pedal-to-the-medal combat thriller with lethal gadgets that are imaginative and large.
However, it is also a smart science-fiction film. D9 highlights the entire spectrum of prejudice. The obvious ...
Here is a link to the controversial blog entry by obscure science fiction author John C. Wright. The conversation surrounding his remarks will only involve talk...
Here is a link to the controversial blog entry by obscure science fiction author John C. Wright. The conversation surrounding his remarks will only involve talking past each other, until we see it as an argument over the three moral dimensions unique to social conservatives: purity, obedience, and loyalty. His hostility will only make sense in that light. By contrast, social liberals have two moral values: fairness/reciprocity, and avoidance of harm. Conservative moral intuitions share those two...
Found on the internet:
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department...
Found on the internet:
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built...
If I can get a video camera from somewhere, I can post "Ferret VS. Robosapien" to YouTube. However, I will try to avoid constant petblogging, and be m...
If I can get a video camera from somewhere, I can post "Ferret VS. Robosapien" to YouTube. However, I will try to avoid constant petblogging, and be mindful that not everyone is as enamored of a pet as their person. :)
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Aug. 30, 2009 4:28 PM
Yes, but I'm not a pet person, and "Ferret VS. Robosapien" is pretty funny to watch. Not to mention everyone who comes to the apartment seems to fall in love with that ferret. I frequently fail my "Aw"...
My agency left me a voicemail to say the good client asked for me back again!
The drive will be shorter, because I now call Westland home. The only moving that ...
My agency left me a voicemail to say the good client asked for me back again!
The drive will be shorter, because I now call Westland home. The only moving that remains basically to throw the last bits of stuff into a huge bag, and clean the old apartment.
Comments
zifferent on Aug. 5, 2009 12:25 AM
Hooray for work and hermit-crab style living!
ferininja on (None)
Is there a lull in flamewars, or am I just not on the right forums anymore? Summer time, and the living is easy. So I choose now to post this. There's very litt...
Is there a lull in flamewars, or am I just not on the right forums anymore? Summer time, and the living is easy. So I choose now to post this. There's very little point in pointing out essays like this to anyone who is currently hunkered down in a fortress of defensiveness. They'd just feel you're making up rules to impose; and will promptly ask who died and made you king.
There is a new essay by Mark Rosenfelder on The Zompist, "On Arguing." Even if you're conflict-averse, you will se...
The car runs fine now for some reason. My best guess is that the fuel turned to jelly when I left it for a few weeks, and constantly gunning the accelerator dur...
The car runs fine now for some reason. My best guess is that the fuel turned to jelly when I left it for a few weeks, and constantly gunning the accelerator during ignition might have flooded the engine. I got a jump and it acted the same, but as soon as I tried it without the gas pedal it started.
Comments
none
Today was the day I was going to replace my car starter. I have not touched it for a couple of weeks while I waited to get paid from an assignment. But I decide...
Today was the day I was going to replace my car starter. I have not touched it for a couple of weeks while I waited to get paid from an assignment. But I decided to try the ignition one more time. I discovered its behavior has changed, so that now the starter is engaging.
Previously the electricity all came on, but there was no sound, not even the clicking sound coming from the starter solenoid.
Today the starter makes this rythm: "DAdadadaDAdadadaDAdadadaDAdadada." The engine makes it...
Gather round and listen to a story of me, self-surveillance, entrepreneurship, and a miniconference about the Python programming language.
I have always charged...
Gather round and listen to a story of me, self-surveillance, entrepreneurship, and a miniconference about the Python programming language.
I have always charged a flat rate for art and design.* This time, I wanted to time myself to find out what I earned per hour and adjust my future rates to what I need to bring in, based on accurate estimates of different types of assignments.
I knew from experience that a stopwatch system such as Harvest doesn't work for me.**
I looked for a piece of software...
Today on my way to PyOhio, the regional Saturday/Sunday Python miniconference in Columbus. Here's a page where you can view or download the program book I made ...
Today on my way to PyOhio, the regional Saturday/Sunday Python miniconference in Columbus. Here's a page where you can view or download the program book I made for it as a PDF.
Comments
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I finished the project I mentioned before. I illustrated a slide presentation "Fundamentals of rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky. I have added most of...
I finished the project I mentioned before. I illustrated a slide presentation "Fundamentals of rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky. I have added most of them to my portfolio for your viewing pleasure, starting here.
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Instead of conversations consistently going like this:
"Did you hear? I'm moving into an apartment which has a ferret. Which is great because I've wanted a...
Instead of conversations consistently going like this:
"Did you hear? I'm moving into an apartment which has a ferret. Which is great because I've wanted a ferret for many years."
"That's nice, too bad about the smell though."
I would like conversations to go like this:
"Did you hear? I'm moving into an apartment which has a ferret. His name is Shutupaboutthesmell."
"I might never speak again in my life, because you took away the only thing in the world that th...
Somehow, my desire for sincere work does not rule out performing the occasional wedding.
A young military couple were being sent overseas, and arranged at the l...
Somehow, my desire for sincere work does not rule out performing the occasional wedding.
A young military couple were being sent overseas, and arranged at the last minute to be married by a Justice of the Peace so as to be less likely to be separated by the military. Upon hearing this plan, their families asked to be allowed to put together a real wedding they could attend with all the trappings. The Justice of the Peace would already have done the legal work; the following ceremony would be for...
I can no longer find the reference, but I recently read of a study that showed that the brain-chemical rewards of satisfaction from talking about our intention ...
I can no longer find the reference, but I recently read of a study that showed that the brain-chemical rewards of satisfaction from talking about our intention to do a project are the same as the feelings of satisfaction that we receive from completing a project. The lesson was to finish first and then unveil it afterward, so as not to sabotage your drive.
This was consistent with my life experience. When I was a boy, I would get the neighborhood kids involved in projects of vast ambition, such ...
I have been paid to draw a salesperson deceiving people in exchange for money.
What gender and race should the salesperson be?
Comments
fuzzyjelly on Jul. 5, 2...
I have been paid to draw a salesperson deceiving people in exchange for money.
What gender and race should the salesperson be?
Comments
fuzzyjelly on Jul. 5, 2009 6:04 PM
Caucasian/Generic. Anything else would be perceived as stereotypical.
atropis on Jul. 5, 2009 6:14 PM
the image that springs immediately to mind is the steroptypical used car salesman. white, slicked back hair, shifty expression, loud sport jacket, one hand behind the back with crossed fingers to signify deceit. in my head, h...
In preparation for moving an apartment into a single room, I have been modeling the room and its proposed contents in Sketchup. As you can see, I modeled the po...
In preparation for moving an apartment into a single room, I have been modeling the room and its proposed contents in Sketchup. As you can see, I modeled the possessions with rather more detail than was strictly required. No doubt I will continue to do so until there is some kind of addiction intervention.
Jen did not expect that I would increase the verisimilitude any farther. But oh, how incorrect that was. I did not like the stock human figure that comes with Sketchup.
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My car's starter is malfunctioning again. I tried hitting the solenoid with a wrench like Bill taught me, but it still doesn't start. The electricity is fine, t...
My car's starter is malfunctioning again. I tried hitting the solenoid with a wrench like Bill taught me, but it still doesn't start. The electricity is fine, the starter just doesn't engage. It makes no sounds.
In the meantime, we have to figure out how to remove a broken-off screw behind the front driver-side wheel of Jen's car. An honest mechanic told us to use a round chisel to bang it out.
Comments
atdt1991 on Jun. 26, 2009 3:22 PM
If you're hitting the starter with a hammer or equivalent,...
Maybe some situations would be better without managers, but not necessarily Better Without Bosses. Most of us are better off if we look to "hire" a bo...
Maybe some situations would be better without managers, but not necessarily Better Without Bosses. Most of us are better off if we look to "hire" a boss to do things that, frankly, most people are bad at, and don't want to do. A boss exists to reliably transform your work into your money, and take part of it for the service. This is better than doing a lot of work and getting little or nothing in return.
A boss task:
Be your own boss but don't possess boss skills:
Figure out what peopl...
We are probably moving in with Trav in Westland, slowly over the course of July. The downsides are reduced space, and slight increase in distance to the post of...
We are probably moving in with Trav in Westland, slowly over the course of July. The downsides are reduced space, and slight increase in distance to the post office, bus stops, and the school that I can't afford to continue anyway. So that's not bad. Well, it's farther from Ann Arbor Gaming Group, but I can still go to that from time to time. Life improvements include:
Vastly reduced expense.
Half an hour closer to every person who I see with any regularity (except Bill, and that is not a chang...
Who wants to hang out for my birthday? I would like to have people over to my apartment tonight, so call me. If you can't make it to Ypsilanti, if someone else ...
Who wants to hang out for my birthday? I would like to have people over to my apartment tonight, so call me. If you can't make it to Ypsilanti, if someone else wants to host I could go there, depending. I made hummus.
Comments
chirex on (None)
matt-arnold on Jun. 17, 2009 8:30 PM
I mean 35. I am widely considered well-preserved.
trav13369 on Jun. 17, 2009 9:25 PM
Happy Birthday!
infowidget on Jun. 18, 2009 2:14 AM
Unfortunately I am here in Cleveland but I hope that you had a wonderful birth...
Do you care about the future of fandom in southeast Michigan? Then you should attend SMOFcamp in Ann Arbor on Saturday, August 22. SMOF stands for "Secret ...
Do you care about the future of fandom in southeast Michigan? Then you should attend SMOFcamp in Ann Arbor on Saturday, August 22. SMOF stands for "Secret Masters of Fandom". Held in a space provided by the new relaxacon ConStruct, with a grant from the Penguicon board of directors, SMOFcamp is a fandom leadership and recruitment summit. ConFusion, ConClave, U*Con, and all other regional geek-related events are invited to participate.
It is an Open-Spaces meeting: a schedule of breakou...
Parodies of Buddhist Koans.
A student said to the chief monk, "Help me to pacify my mind!"
The chief monk said, "Bring your mind over here and I...
Parodies of Buddhist Koans.
A student said to the chief monk, "Help me to pacify my mind!"
The chief monk said, "Bring your mind over here and I will pacify it."
The student said, "But I don't know where my mind is!"
The monk replied, "Then I have already pacified it."
The student said, "Explain to me in detail what you have just done."
The chief monk was silent.
The student said, "Well?"
The monk hung his head, saying, "I tried t...
Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens confronts and rebukes a Christian radio talk show host in this video. They agreed on the justification for the Iraq war, but ...
Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens confronts and rebukes a Christian radio talk show host in this video. They agreed on the justification for the Iraq war, but disagreed on the biblical genocide of Amalekites by the Israelites, ordered by God to kill every last infant, but take some of the virgins for themselves. The host thought the two conflicts were comparable in moral praiseworthiness, which outraged Hitchens and caused the interview to degenerate.
If I had been in Hitchens' position, I woul...
Replacing auto suspension is not trivial, but easier than I ever anticipated. Some cars can use what are called "quick struts", a shock absorber that ...
Replacing auto suspension is not trivial, but easier than I ever anticipated. Some cars can use what are called "quick struts", a shock absorber that is pre-assembled so that you don't have to use a special compression tool. That's what 's car uses. Removal and installation are straightforward. We hit some obstacles on the first one, but it was just a matter of time.
Comments
none
came over and helped me finish up my car repair so it would start. Nothing worked until he tapped on the starter with his wrench. Now we're going out to a car p...
came over and helped me finish up my car repair so it would start. Nothing worked until he tapped on the starter with his wrench. Now we're going out to a car parts retailer to pick up struts for 's car. It has been a rough week, neither of us with working vehicles, but I'm glad to say I have transportation now, and just in time too.
Comments
ferininja on (None)
matt-arnold on Jun. 13, 2009 4:05 AM
Unfortunately, there aren't enough funds in Ypsilanti to pay for the Ann Arbor Transit Authority...
Ferrett Steinmetz deleted his Livejournal because the commenting there got so ugly. Several of you are upset about that. Can we agree it was a needless over-rea...
Ferrett Steinmetz deleted his Livejournal because the commenting there got so ugly. Several of you are upset about that. Can we agree it was a needless over-reaction? He could have just screened comments or locked comments.
This is the same guy who, the last time the drama llama came around, decided to stay home from ConFusion and Penguicon. This remedy had the effect of punishing the only people who weren't dicks to him. Nobody who was mad at him went to those events. He is establishing a histo...
Not only does this video encapsulate why I don't like working for clients, it also resembles several confrontations over badge rates during the Penguicon weeken...
Not only does this video encapsulate why I don't like working for clients, it also resembles several confrontations over badge rates during the Penguicon weekend.
Comments
earthenwood on May. 29, 2009 7:08 PM
heh, yeah. The last bit, where he tells the chef that he needs him to tell how he made it... I can relate to that, for sure. It happens pretty often in the arts, sadly. "Paying" a compliment and then asking how it is made so one can reproduce the effect (and probably sell it too)...
The board game "Hey! That's My Fish!" is now available as a downloadable Wii Ware. Attention and . Big B and Little B may be interested to know.
As fo...
The board game "Hey! That's My Fish!" is now available as a downloadable Wii Ware. Attention and . Big B and Little B may be interested to know.
As for me, I prefer the look and feel of the physical version, but at $8, this costs considerably less than the $30 wood and cardboard game.
Relevant gameplay begins in 1:53 of the video.
Comments
sheryl67 on May. 28, 2009 11:22 PM
Why, thank you, Matt! I showed it to them and they both said, "Cool" and "Awesome"!
That was the most stroke-like non-stroke I've ever heard of. It turns out there is more than one disease that can cause speech loss, headache, and funhouse-mirr...
That was the most stroke-like non-stroke I've ever heard of. It turns out there is more than one disease that can cause speech loss, headache, and funhouse-mirror vision: migraine, and transient ischaemic attack (or "mini stroke"). She'll follow up with a neurologist, but is home now. Thanks to everyone who called or posted.
Comments
earthenwood on May. 28, 2009 2:40 PM
How frightening! Sending much love and hugs and healing thoughts to Jen. Hope you feel better very soon. Hugs to you...
Comments
n9uxu on May. 28, 2009 1:40 PM
Phew! Glad to hear things are clearing up!
cosette-valjean on May. 28, 2009 2:17 PM
I'm so glad to hear that it looks ...
Comments
n9uxu on May. 28, 2009 1:40 PM
Phew! Glad to hear things are clearing up!
cosette-valjean on May. 28, 2009 2:17 PM
I'm so glad to hear that it looks like Jen will be ok. I was rather surprised to find out this morning what happened to her. I hope it is something that will not become a permanent health issue.
I'm feeding the pets of a friend for a few days out of town. Only Linux can access the internet at this location! When I boot the laptop into Windows XP, it say...
I'm feeding the pets of a friend for a few days out of town. Only Linux can access the internet at this location! When I boot the laptop into Windows XP, it says it's made a connection to the network, but every browser I use fails to see any websites. My laptop has always had this problem here. I have to boot Windows to play games or use my art software, but boot Linux to use the internet. Any suggestions?
Comments
pooh27bear on May. 25, 2009 5:10 PM
I wonder if he's got some type of smart rout...
At the party on Saturday, K.T. handed out pudding shots. I normally avoid most alcohol, especially strong kinds, but I ate a pudding shot. I'm not sure what it ...
At the party on Saturday, K.T. handed out pudding shots. I normally avoid most alcohol, especially strong kinds, but I ate a pudding shot. I'm not sure what it had in it.
Not long after, I became perceptibly funnier for several minutes. This is the first time I have noticed this effect from alcohol.
Explanation #1: In the past I've braced myself when I sampled a drink. I would say "I just drank alcohol. Here it comes! What's going to happen?" Then I would become de-energized, distant, ...
Metafilter commenter grumblebee explains why not to assume you have infallible intuition about the thoughts of others. I am copying it here.
_I used to be a &q...
Metafilter commenter grumblebee explains why not to assume you have infallible intuition about the thoughts of others. I am copying it here.
_I used to be a "psychic" armchair psychologist. I KNEW what people were thinking -- or at least thought I did. I prided myself on how good I was at it. I used to hold court by summing people up in a pithy, entertaining way. A guy would say, "I hate that movie," and I and would say, "of course, he really likes it, but is ashamed to...
I left Penguicon laden with gifts. Some were gag gifts, and others were obviously chosen based on a keen knowledge of my interests. I'll leave it to you to be c...
I left Penguicon laden with gifts. Some were gag gifts, and others were obviously chosen based on a keen knowledge of my interests. I'll leave it to you to be curious as to which is which. But both kinds leave me feeling very loved and appreciated. Here are some of them.
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Dear [most Facebook friend requests I receive],
I have two rules for accepting friend requests. I must know them offline, or they must show a photo of themselve...
Dear [most Facebook friend requests I receive],
I have two rules for accepting friend requests. I must know them offline, or they must show a photo of themselves on their profile. The reason for these rules is that otherwise I couldn't keep it straight about who they are, where I know them from, or anything else.
For instance, because you meet neither of these criteria, I do not remember ever interacting with you, at least under your real name. Thank you for your friend request, but I will decli...
James Dobson surrendered his role in Christian engagement in politics in the May 14 broadcast of Focus on the Family. Dobson told his listeners he would not ask...
James Dobson surrendered his role in Christian engagement in politics in the May 14 broadcast of Focus on the Family. Dobson told his listeners he would not ask them to write or call their representatives in Congress, as any route other than prayer is hopeless, at least as long as the executive and legislative branches are Democrat-controlled.
The organization, founded by Dobson, is one of the foremost leaders of the Dominionist edge of the Religious Right. Dominionism is an ideology within extr...
To help clear up who I was pointing at and calling on in the feedback session of Penguicon, I spoke their names. There came a moment that I realized I knew the ...
To help clear up who I was pointing at and calling on in the feedback session of Penguicon, I spoke their names. There came a moment that I realized I knew the name of almost every person raising their hand. What caused this correlation, if it is real? And what do you suppose that communicated to others who also noticed?
The feedback session was pretty good. That was due mostly to Jer keeping it under control when we got repeat comments. However, do you suppose being publicly identified also det...
The latest episode of Pseudopod is a triple-feature, and the second story in the episode is read by me! I warn you, it is deeply disturbing. You even get to hea...
The latest episode of Pseudopod is a triple-feature, and the second story in the episode is read by me! I warn you, it is deeply disturbing. You even get to hear me sing a song that you never thought could work on a creepy level.
Pseudopod is part of the Escape Artists family of short fiction podcasts. Every week, Escape Pod brings you science fiction, Pseudopod brings you horror, and Podcastle brings you fantasy. This company is the second largest paying market for short fiction in the world, a...
Finals have been graded. I have a 4.0 grade average. Somehow my A turned into an A+ when I took my final. Maybe the fact that I accidentally completed and turne...
Finals have been graded. I have a 4.0 grade average. Somehow my A turned into an A+ when I took my final. Maybe the fact that I accidentally completed and turned in an extra homework assignment had something to do with it.
The school appears to have changed the requirements for the Web Database Developer Advanced Certificate that I was pursuing, while I wasn't looking. In my perusal today, I no longer see any programs that I want to complete. The plan was to take one more semester, in which I'd ...
Penguicon was a spectacular success, with a few notable exceptions. Most of my recreation on the weekend had to do with seeing people who I normally only intera...
Penguicon was a spectacular success, with a few notable exceptions. Most of my recreation on the weekend had to do with seeing people who I normally only interact with online. All of them were tremendously impressed with the convention and had a blast.
Eliezer Yudkowsky took me to dinner and we talked about how to make the Singularity Summit less expensive.
I demoed "Open Source, The Board Game" for Joe Jackson of the Network for Open Scientific Innovation. He would like me to do the g...
One of these years, I really need to not have a schedule conflict during the Flirting For Geeks panel. J is a student of body language and has been educating me...
One of these years, I really need to not have a schedule conflict during the Flirting For Geeks panel. J is a student of body language and has been educating me about some of the finer points.
Most people have a twenty-year head start on me for body-linguistics related to flirtation, but I am not illiterate about body language more generally. I speak a robust and practical creole based on the range of experience that you have when you grow up in a culture that doesn't allow expressions of sexual...
Dropped off my car full of stuff at the hotel, drove to Lathrup Village to pick up and pay for the program books and pocket programs. Returned to the hotel. Tak...
Dropped off my car full of stuff at the hotel, drove to Lathrup Village to pick up and pay for the program books and pocket programs. Returned to the hotel. Taking inventory.
Normally no one is in charge of making sure the stuff from the cube gets to someone who needs it. So in the past most of it just sat in Ops, and after the convention, people were astonished to discover it existed and could have met their needs. This year I have made it my job to do it.
Comments
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Comments
sheryl67 on Apr. 30, 2009 11:37 AM
Love the song.
Love the auto-transcription too. Pendwort, should be the new name of the con. LOL.
plasmonicgrid on...
Comments
sheryl67 on Apr. 30, 2009 11:37 AM
Love the song.
Love the auto-transcription too. Pendwort, should be the new name of the con. LOL.
plasmonicgrid on Apr. 30, 2009 12:03 PM
I thought about transcribing it properly. but, really.. I don't think I want to mess with it. :-P
tlatoani on Apr. 30, 2009 11:42 AM
ROTFL. Auto-Transcription FAIL.
earthenwood on Apr. 30, 2009 2:25 PM
best post evar!
crywolf on Apr. 30, 2009 2:53 PM
Pendwort Calms would make a great name for a common area. &quo...
I'll need help with my computer at Penguicon. Those of you who have been reading this blog a long time know that whenever I upgrade Ubuntu Linux to the latest v...
I'll need help with my computer at Penguicon. Those of you who have been reading this blog a long time know that whenever I upgrade Ubuntu Linux to the latest version, one of a variety of things will go wrong to render the system unusable. What I have always done in the past in reaction to this, was wipe the hard drive and re-install Ubuntu.
This time, when I boot up and enter the splash screen, as soon as I place my cursor in the field to enter my username, I get the popup message saying "...
Kevin Kelly's article "Speculations on the Future of Science" contains the following section:
Combinatorial Sweep Exploration – Much of the unknown c...
Kevin Kelly's article "Speculations on the Future of Science" contains the following section:
Combinatorial Sweep Exploration – Much of the unknown can be explored by systematically creating random varieties of it at a large scale. You can explore the composition of ceramics (or thin films, or rare-earth conductors) by creating all possible types of ceramic (or thin films, or rare-earth conductors), and then testing them in their millions. You can explore certain realms of proteins by...
1.
Emily Short was kind enough to post to her blog to publicize my call for interest in an Interactive Fiction Workshop at next year's Penguicon. The current po...
1.
Emily Short was kind enough to post to her blog to publicize my call for interest in an Interactive Fiction Workshop at next year's Penguicon. The current poll results:
What would your ideal Inform workshop cover?
Basics: setting started and overview of IDE 13% (16 votes)
Writing short tutorial game together 24% (30 votes)
Language concepts (rules, activities) 21% (26 votes)
Programming techniques (writing for extensions, debugging) 13% (16 votes)
Specific advanced implementation topic (chara...
I'm very proud to say that thanks to the diligent attention, detailed agreements on process, and clear communication of expectations on the part of so many peop...
I'm very proud to say that thanks to the diligent attention, detailed agreements on process, and clear communication of expectations on the part of so many people, this year's Penguicon program book is an almost completely correct document. I don't envision much of an errata sheet.
There it goes, with the click of a button. For better. For worse. (Almost entirely for better, fortunately.) You can find a tweak here, a jot there, but the process is done. We have emerged from the neck of the bottle...
I realized about a month ago that a purchase of a phone with a keyboard is actually a purchase of inclusion in the community of people who text message. It did ...
I realized about a month ago that a purchase of a phone with a keyboard is actually a purchase of inclusion in the community of people who text message. It did not previously occur to me how much I miss out on that goes on behind the scenes with these devices. It's like in 2005 when Bill Putt dragged me into finally getting a mobile phone. I may have to stop thinking of a texting device as a luxury. Now, that having been said, until I have more secure income, I'm not going to run right out and p...
Friday will be my last day at the temp job in the Mount Clemens area. They hold out the possibility of bringing me back in the very short-term future. That will...
Friday will be my last day at the temp job in the Mount Clemens area. They hold out the possibility of bringing me back in the very short-term future. That will depend whether the other assignment in Ann Arbor is still waiting for me.
I'm glad to have the chance to focus on my final exam in Intro to Java on May 4.
I think there's something else I've got to do on the three days preceding it. What was it ... ? Oh yes, the incandescent culmination of eighteen months of work. When I was steadily emp...
Anybody want some business cards? I would place the order and pick them up for you. The place in Hazel park where I buy Whuffie has a sale on black-and-white si...
Anybody want some business cards? I would place the order and pick them up for you. The place in Hazel park where I buy Whuffie has a sale on black-and-white single-sided business cards, 250 for $10 or 500 for $14. Here is the card I made for Jen.
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I have found shoulder relief in ibuprofen, steaming baths*, and the liberal application of Icy Hot. However, I take note that my shoulders did not hurt during t...
I have found shoulder relief in ibuprofen, steaming baths*, and the liberal application of Icy Hot. However, I take note that my shoulders did not hurt during the most physically active time of the weekend, as I reported in the last post. Each time I lower my head to clear the roof of the car while entering or exiting, I clench the diaphragm of the lungs, bracing for a potential spike of agony. This habit no doubt exacerbates the problem. I think the acid reflux and muscle pain are probably symp...
I operated a puppet in Festifools with hardly any back pain at all! What fun it was. Photos behind the cut!
I got to operate one of the puppets I helped to buil...
I operated a puppet in Festifools with hardly any back pain at all! What fun it was. Photos behind the cut!
I got to operate one of the puppets I helped to build a few weeks ago, assisting the artist, Melissa. It was part of a set of sun and moon, who battled each other until you had to ask the question "who is orbiting who?"
I'm deeply grateful this year to have worked with Melissa's team, because they gave it 100% into playing the characters and being energetic. Some kids were sellin...
Today is Festifools! April Fools Day will be celebrated with giant puppets from 4 to 5 PM on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor!
Unfortunately I'll have to be a ...
Today is Festifools! April Fools Day will be celebrated with giant puppets from 4 to 5 PM on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor!
Unfortunately I'll have to be a spectator. Somehow I hurt my back Friday night, and was in tremendous pain all day Saturday, which persists a little today although it's improving.
I have been looking forward all year to participating in Festifools again. I considered pumping a lot of ibuprofen and muddling through, but realized I would only bring the event down if I try...
We got in late Tuesday night to PyCon in Chicago. I spent today in on-the-job training, trying to learn by watching and by doing. At first, the best I could do ...
We got in late Tuesday night to PyCon in Chicago. I spent today in on-the-job training, trying to learn by watching and by doing. At first, the best I could do was avoid getting underfoot. Now I'm setting up microphones, operating the sound boards and video cameras, and using software on a laptop that cuts between views of the presenter and his or her presentation. It's fun.
Yesterday and today are pre-conference tutorial sessions. On Friday the conference begins.
During a break, I met another m...
We have replaced Spider Robinson with not one, but two Guests of Honor:
author Sarah Hoyt, and past GoH John "maddog" Hall of Linux International.
I f...
We have replaced Spider Robinson with not one, but two Guests of Honor:
author Sarah Hoyt, and past GoH John "maddog" Hall of Linux International.
I finally finished the plan I originally had for the "What Is Penguicon" page.
Thanks to for the solar system graphics.
I also finally got our convention rules up on the website.
The additional Chaos Toy components are purchased.
My preparations for Opening Ceremonies are now sufficient.
I would appreciate any ideas you come up wit...
My memory is weird. It fails me often, and that has been one of my most serious weaknesses as Conchair. But my emotional memory is my strength. When things are ...
My memory is weird. It fails me often, and that has been one of my most serious weaknesses as Conchair. But my emotional memory is my strength. When things are at their best, and I'm happy, I vividly remember the bad times as a cautionary tale, and steer clear of disasters. When things are at their worst, and I'm disappointed or ashamed, I vividly remember how things went well, and keep energized. This year's concom, of this particular convention, can say a lot of things, but they cannot say the...
I got an A on my midterm, but fear that employment and Penguicon might start getting in the way of my education. This concerns me deeply.
For instance, instead ...
I got an A on my midterm, but fear that employment and Penguicon might start getting in the way of my education. This concerns me deeply.
For instance, instead of working on the homework that is due Wednesday, I chose to spend both days of the weekend working on Penguicon almost non-stop at the homes of , and , and the storage cube.
Work will let me leave at 3:00 PM on days I have class, if I arrive at work at 7:30 AM. So I got up at 5 AM.
Due to traffic and fueling, it took an hour and a half t...
While behind the blocking software, I accumulated some little thoughts to share with you, so I am giving them all at once as if I had an LJ-Twitter. Yes, I know...
While behind the blocking software, I accumulated some little thoughts to share with you, so I am giving them all at once as if I had an LJ-Twitter. Yes, I know, I know. I disprefer that practice. But don't worry, it's just this once.
My temp assignment started today and is scheduled to last a month. My plan is to stay in Hazel Park on Tuesday and Thursday nights to cut the commute in half, but return home to take classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.
This is not the first time this company asked...
I probably have a temp job starting Wednesday. A company I worked for a year ago asked the agency for me. They make user instruction manuals rather than marketi...
I probably have a temp job starting Wednesday. A company I worked for a year ago asked the agency for me. They make user instruction manuals rather than marketing materials, so I like working there. They are in Clinton Township, so the commute will be an hour each way. Yay income!
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Went to see the opening showing of Watchmen at 12:01 this morning, and loved it. Like most other fans, I went in wondering what they would have to leave out to ...
Went to see the opening showing of Watchmen at 12:01 this morning, and loved it. Like most other fans, I went in wondering what they would have to leave out to fit it into two and a half hours. The answer: the pages and pages of dense backstory in text rather than comic form. The stuff actually contained in illustrated comic panels was hardly cut at all, except for the Pirate comic books, which were also supplemental material. Almost every minor character who had most of their scenes cut at leas...
I did pretty well on the written portion of my Java midterm. I may have aced it. That sounds more flattering than it really is, because my teacher is kind: he a...
I did pretty well on the written portion of my Java midterm. I may have aced it. That sounds more flattering than it really is, because my teacher is kind: he allowed me to stay and finish during the subsequent class that he teaches in the same room. Yeah, it took me that long.
Now I'm working on the next part, which is creating a poker card program. It's due Saturday at 9 PM. I will be doing little else, in order to finish it by the Penguicon concom meeting on Saturday.
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I have never needed a massage before. What a wondrous new sensation is this aching feeling.
- Figure out concom meeting agenda
- Draw a t-shirt because we still...
I have never needed a massage before. What a wondrous new sensation is this aching feeling.
- Figure out concom meeting agenda
- Draw a t-shirt because we still don't have one
- Finish designing opening ceremonies
- What Is Penguicon? page. Post solar system graphics for each track, with descriptions of tracks as follows.
Tech How to program, set up and/or use software, or issues of concern to programmers or software users. Computer hardware and toys in general.
Literature Reading and writing, b...
For the past few weeks, I've experienced prolonged mild chest discomfort. The best I can describe it is like congestion, except it's non-respiratory. There is t...
For the past few weeks, I've experienced prolonged mild chest discomfort. The best I can describe it is like congestion, except it's non-respiratory. There is the occasional very faint aching in there. I particularly feel it while trying to get to sleep, because there's nothing else to distract me.
If I had health insurance I would get it checked out. Maybe it's hypertension, or an ulcer or something.
I got the suggestion that it is a very mild panic attack due to stress from Penguicon and under...
Stopped for the night outside Lincoln, Nebraska, the first twelve hours done. Gone was the summery clime Nebraska offered us on Tuesday, replaced by blizzard. T...
Stopped for the night outside Lincoln, Nebraska, the first twelve hours done. Gone was the summery clime Nebraska offered us on Tuesday, replaced by blizzard. The snow made for dangerous and difficult driving. It is likely to be worse tomorrow.
Comments
druidsfire on Feb. 28, 2009 6:03 AM
Drive safely, Matt!
We have decided not to drive for twenty-four consecutive hours, but stop in Omaha Nebraska tonight to split up the trip into two twelve-hour pieces. The odds of...
We have decided not to drive for twenty-four consecutive hours, but stop in Omaha Nebraska tonight to split up the trip into two twelve-hour pieces. The odds of making it to MPCon on Saturday are, sadly, not good.
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Whenever I eat in the IHOP here in the greater Denver area, I am reminded by the conversations of those in adjoining booths that I am near the headquarters of F...
Whenever I eat in the IHOP here in the greater Denver area, I am reminded by the conversations of those in adjoining booths that I am near the headquarters of Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson.
You have probably heard of this organization as a leader of the Dominionist movement in America. Dr. Dobson's has a Focus on the Family show on nearly every Christian radio station in the country. I used to listen to it regularly. If there is any such thing as a nerve center for such a fiercely in...
will have enough trouble fighting for the dignity of her dying grandmother without adding the topic of polyamory to her visit. The family is fundamentalist Chri...
will have enough trouble fighting for the dignity of her dying grandmother without adding the topic of polyamory to her visit. The family is fundamentalist Christians, and therefore not allowed to know I exist. I spent all day yesterday in a motel in Denver, and am doing so again today. I can see mountains from the window.
I wrote an interactive fiction yesterday. Please let me know if you would like to beta test it when it's complete! I have a lot more to add to it, so you can't play it yet, bu...
We got on the road a little after midnight. Now we are at a rest station with free open WiFi at the Iowa/Nebraska border.
David Adams is my favorite person most...
We got on the road a little after midnight. Now we are at a rest station with free open WiFi at the Iowa/Nebraska border.
David Adams is my favorite person most days, due to the laptop he gave me, and today is especially so. It has been nearly a year since I last used InForm, and I have resumed my efforts in it on the laptop in the car, between driving, and naps. InForm is a wonderful program in which you can write your own Interactive Fiction, i.e. text adventures. For ease of use, quality docu...
The webcomic Nedroid Picture Gallery asked "So How The Heck Are Ya, Anyway?" and only drawings are allowed as answers. So I threw this sketch together...
The webcomic Nedroid Picture Gallery asked "So How The Heck Are Ya, Anyway?" and only drawings are allowed as answers. So I threw this sketch together real quick.
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I leave for Colorado tonight. As you know if you read her blog, 's grandmother is not long for this world, so this is their last chance to see each other. I don...
I leave for Colorado tonight. As you know if you read her blog, 's grandmother is not long for this world, so this is their last chance to see each other. I don't want driving an eighteen hour road trip on her own. Besides, I like road trips with her.
There will be internet access from the hotel. I still plan to drop in at MPCon some time on Saturday.
Comments
charlie-ihsan on Feb. 23, 2009 5:13 PM
Yay road trips!
I'm going to Colorado on the 3rd, but by plane. I just don't have the time to fly...
It was a work trip, so I saw no programming, and thus cannot give a fair review of the convention. When I think of Capricon, I think of a cavernous deserted fun...
It was a work trip, so I saw no programming, and thus cannot give a fair review of the convention. When I think of Capricon, I think of a cavernous deserted function space, above which are dark, loud, hot rooms crowded with drunk people. That impression is only due to my peculiar set of circumstances. Besides, it only seemed dead because the function space was so much larger than the attendance, which was a perfectly normal number.
What I saw was the parties, which often lack an organized framew...
Leanne Velhurst just finished showing me ConCentric, an online system she created for scheduling events, presenters and locations at the Capricon science fictio...
Leanne Velhurst just finished showing me ConCentric, an online system she created for scheduling events, presenters and locations at the Capricon science fiction convention I am attending right now. It does everything that I want CREM to do.
Convention settings page automatically generates your drop-down list of start times, from 3 pieces of data:
start day/time
end day/time
timeslot length
Catches conflicts of:
rooms
times
participants
equipment
Auto-generates:
complete detailed schedule ...
Upon arrival yesterday I immediately volunteered for a few hours, until they ran out of things for me to do. To be reimbursed, I have to fit in 12 hours around ...
Upon arrival yesterday I immediately volunteered for a few hours, until they ran out of things for me to do. To be reimbursed, I have to fit in 12 hours around running the fan table and Cafe Penguicon. There seem to be more volunteers than available work, which is troubling, but oh well, such problems we should have. This is a well-organized convention.
, you need to see the instruction sheet they hand out to volunteers. It is quite nice and possibly instructive for us.
The two places of most in...
As you know if you read this blog, Penguicon's 2009 Gaming Guest of Honor is Jane McGonigal. The latest game that Jane McGonigal is involved in with The Institu...
As you know if you read this blog, Penguicon's 2009 Gaming Guest of Honor is Jane McGonigal. The latest game that Jane McGonigal is involved in with The Institute For The Future is The Free Space Experiment.
I've examined how to play and scoring, and I adore it!
Here is my card in the game. As you can see, I haven't come up with any ideas yet. I didn't know the game had already started! Unfortunately the first experiment ends today. But there will be more.
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Feb. 20, 20...
I somehow convinced the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association to pay for a capsule toy vending machine for use by local fandom in southeast Michigan. Sometimes ...
I somehow convinced the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association to pay for a capsule toy vending machine for use by local fandom in southeast Michigan. Sometimes it is known as the Chaos Dispenser or the Vending Golem. Various groups use it to dispense things at conventions. We sometimes glue quarters into the machine's slot to reduce the price. Someday I hope we will come up with a permanent price-reduction solution.
I currently have this machine open in front of me because at Capricon this weeke...
I have all but one thing.
I have a capsule-toy vending machine to randomly dispense static film window clings, coupons for free t-shirts, free memberships to va...
I have all but one thing.
I have a capsule-toy vending machine to randomly dispense static film window clings, coupons for free t-shirts, free memberships to various Michigan conventions, and so forth.
I have fliers. I have a huge box of t-shirts. I have our photo album. I have an unfoldable origami penguin centerpiece. I have foam-core signs on cardboard easels. I have our vinyl banner. I have four boxes of Cafe Penguicon supplies. I have blue painter's tape.
I do not have an actual hall table ...
When it comes to talking about programming, it seems that the closer the programming language is to English, the tougher it can be to talk about it sometimes.
C...
When it comes to talking about programming, it seems that the closer the programming language is to English, the tougher it can be to talk about it sometimes.
Case in point in class right now: You have words like "this" built into the Java programming language. We're writing a method that refers to "whatever object we're working with" as "this". Someone spoke the word "this" to refer to the method we are working on. The person he was talking to thought he ...
First, a proviso: "class" will be referred to in lower case to mean an instructor teaching a group of students, and "Class" will be in upper...
First, a proviso: "class" will be referred to in lower case to mean an instructor teaching a group of students, and "Class" will be in upper case to refer to a document written in Java.
Up until now my Java homework was not difficult to accomplish. This one, creating a calculator that takes roman numerals and gives roman numeral output, required me to dispense with some incorrect notions. I thought the point of the exercise was to put to use what we have been learning: a demo...
Announcement
I get to be on staff for PyCon, the world conference of the Python programming language, in Chicago! Tuesday March 24 through Sunday March 29! Whic...
Announcement
I get to be on staff for PyCon, the world conference of the Python programming language, in Chicago! Tuesday March 24 through Sunday March 29! Which means all-expenses-paid for me! For all six days! If I'm willing to work almost non-stop during those days! Which I am!
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Hey, don't worry about my coffee, folks! Tonight at the SMOS dinner I heard some people were concerned, after reading the recent comments I made on my ConFusion...
Hey, don't worry about my coffee, folks! Tonight at the SMOS dinner I heard some people were concerned, after reading the recent comments I made on my ConFusion report, saying "did you hear when Matt broke the carafe of his last machine, he went for a long time without coffee, because he didn't know you could buy a replacement carafe?"
The carafe is super-convenient but not required. Espresso machines don't have heater plates like a drip coffee machine does. Just a grille to catch spil...
I know Sai Emrys of the Language Creation Society. Sai recently read my website. Upon being particularly thought-provoked by How To Recognize The Signs of an Im...
I know Sai Emrys of the Language Creation Society. Sai recently read my website. Upon being particularly thought-provoked by How To Recognize The Signs of an Imaginary Friend and Thoughts on Our Interactions With the Supernatural, he posted a thread to the forums of the Randi Institute. In that thread he asked for stories of how believers interacted with God, and how ex-believers who used to think they interacted with God now explain those experiences. Some parts of the resulting conversation we...
Sometimes a Penguicon worker goes several months at a time without responding to repeated contact with the convention, so much that we have no idea whether the ...
Sometimes a Penguicon worker goes several months at a time without responding to repeated contact with the convention, so much that we have no idea whether the job is getting anything done at all. When that happens, I either announce the person who is clamoring to do their job is now in that job, or I start publicly seeking a replacement.
It has worked out well, because so far, they have a 100% rate of coming out of hiding as soon as this happens. It's uncanny.
Comments
rachelann1977 on Feb. 12...
Here I am in the Presidential Suite of a potential 2010 Penguicon hotel, where the party-goers from last night are wandering in from their rest and recovery. Ha...
Here I am in the Presidential Suite of a potential 2010 Penguicon hotel, where the party-goers from last night are wandering in from their rest and recovery. Hangovers are light or non-existent, despite the massive quantity of alcohol consumed. There were games. There was a great spread of snacks and soft drinks. There was Pizzacon in this part of the Presidential Suite.
In the bedroom of the suite there was Bedcon, which I call a different kind of Game Room. It is great that this social scene i...
At the Penguicon party in a hotel suite tonight. It has been great. It still is great, in fact. I'm just pausing to post this drawing I just made of Steve de Ha...
At the Penguicon party in a hotel suite tonight. It has been great. It still is great, in fact. I'm just pausing to post this drawing I just made of Steve de Hart with his Consuite greatness.
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My car won't start. I need a lift to the concom meeting tomorrow.
Comments
mmetrumpington on Feb. 7, 2009 3:07 AM
hey, neither will mine. Do you think there is...
My car won't start. I need a lift to the concom meeting tomorrow.
Comments
mmetrumpington on Feb. 7, 2009 3:07 AM
hey, neither will mine. Do you think there is a miasma spreading acroos the yspi arbor border that is taking out ignitions? :) By the way, I have your colossal coffee mug of doom.
Bruce came over and spent the day teaching me Views in TurboGears, and some Controllers too. I'm confident and ready to contribute! After dinner with and a newc...
Bruce came over and spent the day teaching me Views in TurboGears, and some Controllers too. I'm confident and ready to contribute! After dinner with and a newcomer, the four of us are at Python User Group now.
Hi, my name is Matt, and I ... I ... I actually like whitespace. (Hi, Matt)
WHY? WHY MATT, WHY OH WHY? you ask, on your knees in supplication to the skies, if you are named . I admit I may be wrong and change my mind later, but here is my impression so far: I am frankly going to be readin...
Did you know there is an LJ community for Bi Poly Kinky Pagan Gamer Geeks? Obviously it's full of cool people.
The intro asks that prospective members have at l...
Did you know there is an LJ community for Bi Poly Kinky Pagan Gamer Geeks? Obviously it's full of cool people.
The intro asks that prospective members have at least five out of the six traits. There can be no question I'm a poly, a gamer, and a geek. On the other hand, while I'm friendly and reasonably well-informed when it comes to bi, kinky, and pagan, the best I can do is to be GGG (Good, Giving and Game). So, the "Watch" option is the one intended for me, rather than the "Join...
Hey everybody, it's great to hear from you, but between 4 and 6 PM on Monday and Wednesday I am in Java class. I'll call you back in ten minutes! Thanks!
Commen...
Hey everybody, it's great to hear from you, but between 4 and 6 PM on Monday and Wednesday I am in Java class. I'll call you back in ten minutes! Thanks!
Comments
rikhei on Feb. 2, 2009 11:59 PM
Can't you turn off your phone or your ringer during that time?
matt-arnold on Feb. 3, 2009 12:01 AM
I set it to send calls directly to voice mail during that time. The problem is, I don't pick up, so they don't get to talk to me.
twoofdtm on Feb. 3, 2009 12:29 AM
It wasn't That Important, as the situa...
I and are sitting in Espresso Royale practicing programming in Ruby. We did the same exercise for making singular and plural sentences. When I looked at the way...
I and are sitting in Espresso Royale practicing programming in Ruby. We did the same exercise for making singular and plural sentences. When I looked at the way she did it in her version, I didn't recognize what the hash sign followed by curly braces is supposed to do. She explained it for a while. I summarized.
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Friday of ConFusion, I tracked down and retreived the Penguicon storage room key from the person who had requested it from me and not responded to my entreaties...
Friday of ConFusion, I tracked down and retreived the Penguicon storage room key from the person who had requested it from me and not responded to my entreaties. I also answered a half-dozen people approaching me to ask about Penguicon, usually by directing them to the person to whom I was delegating the matter. Even so, they tended to return to me after talking to that person, and telling me what was determined. I have no problem with this, because more communication = good.
I did a panel about...
I want to always remember Kevin Kelly's Eight Generatives Better Than Free. When your product can be copied a million times with the press of a button, these ar...
I want to always remember Kevin Kelly's Eight Generatives Better Than Free. When your product can be copied a million times with the press of a button, these are things you make money from. I renamed them in order to make a mnemonic anagram. Mnemonics work better if there is something slightly odd or arbitrary about them, because that attracts attention. So "friend" is misspelled. If I make something that can be digitized, I need a SHARP FREND.
Support /
Help "The software is fre...
Good news! In the student commons where the food court is, Washtenaw Community College has a large window showing into a sound studio, with a big sign saying &q...
Good news! In the student commons where the food court is, Washtenaw Community College has a large window showing into a sound studio, with a big sign saying "We have a podcasting department." They are happy to let me use the studio to record!
Comments
amanda_lodden on Jan. 30, 2009 3:20 PM
Yay!
habibekindheart on Jan. 30, 2009 9:32 PM
Awesome!
I have agreed to record a podcast for a highly-reputable audio fiction magazine. When I went to record it, I turned off the computer fans and other noise source...
I have agreed to record a podcast for a highly-reputable audio fiction magazine. When I went to record it, I turned off the computer fans and other noise sources in the apartment, and realized my environment has more sound than I normally notice. There is rap next door, cars honk in the streets, and dogs bark in the adjacent apartments.
I just got back from WCC, where all the group study rooms in the library were occupied. The music department does not have any soundproof rooms for musicians to ...
Forgetting frustrates me. I've forgotten more knowledge in my life than peasants in the Dark Ages ever learned. The point of taking a class is not about what I ...
Forgetting frustrates me. I've forgotten more knowledge in my life than peasants in the Dark Ages ever learned. The point of taking a class is not about what I learn. It's about what I won't forget. Then I can move forward on programming projects with confidence that I don't have to waste a bunch of time catching up on what the keywords and punctuation mean. I refuse to cram for exams and just lose it all. I have to practice, practice, practice-- then I need to keep doing a regimen of projects t...
Penguicon's Gaming Guest of Honor Jane McGonigal does a lot of work with museums, among other things. I recommend you read this NPR story about it which aired o...
Penguicon's Gaming Guest of Honor Jane McGonigal does a lot of work with museums, among other things. I recommend you read this NPR story about it which aired on All Things Considered on January 15. Here are the slides from her talk "Gaming the Future of Museums". Needless to say, when I hear her talk about
1 Satisfying work to do
2 The experience of being good at something
3 Time spent with people we like
4 The chance to be part of something bigger
I immediately think of science ficti...
# Finds out how many months it takes to pay off a $1000 purchase with no downpayment.
rate = .015 # Interest rate of 1.5% per month.
payment = 50 # Monthly paym...
# Finds out how many months it takes to pay off a $1000 purchase with no downpayment.
rate = .015 # Interest rate of 1.5% per month.
payment = 50 # Monthly payment.
balance = 1000 # How much debt remains.
months = 0 # How many monthly payments have been made so far.
while balance > 0:
thismonthsinterest = balance * rate # How much debt accrues this month
balance = balance + thismonthsinterest - payment
months += 1
print months, ' Interest: $%.2f' % thismonthsinterest, ' Balance: $%.2f' % bala...
Any advice on a quick tool to preserve code formatting in a blog post?
You have just purchased a stereo system that cost $1,000 on the following credit plan:
• ...
Any advice on a quick tool to preserve code formatting in a blog post?
You have just purchased a stereo system that cost $1,000 on the following credit plan:
• no down payment,
• an interest rate of 18% per year (and hence 1.5% per month),
• monthly payment of $50.
The monthly payment of $50 is used to pay the interest, and whatever is left is used to pay part of the remaining debt. Hence, the first month you pay 1.5% of $1,000 in interest. That is $15 in interest. So, the remaining $35 is deduc...
Comments
earthenwood on Jan. 26, 2009 12:47 AM
yep. that sounds about right. that is about my state tonight too. great post, Matt!
anodracs on Jan. 26, 2009 1...
Comments
earthenwood on Jan. 26, 2009 12:47 AM
yep. that sounds about right. that is about my state tonight too. great post, Matt!
anodracs on Jan. 26, 2009 1:46 AM
Hi there, Matt! I believe I met you briefly at Confusion the other day, I was at the "your first con" panel. Of course, you're going to have to take me on my word for this, given the relative anonymity of Livejournal as a whole, but I enjoyed talking to you. Do you have a friending policy in regards to your LJ? I'm trying...
Friday, 7 PM, I'm on the panel discussion "Is this your first convention?" in Dennison III.
Saturday, 7 PM, I will serve as the barista for "Capp...
Friday, 7 PM, I'm on the panel discussion "Is this your first convention?" in Dennison III.
Saturday, 7 PM, I will serve as the barista for "Cappuccinos with Cory Doctorow".
My burr coffee grinder is adequate, but no longer grinds as fine as it used to. Does anyone have a burr grinder I can use? (Nothing using blades.)
To head off the questions in advance, there will be no Cafe Penguicon at 'Fusion, just as there was not at 'Clave. They don't make enough registrations to pay ...
After listening to the Obama inauguration speech, I rewatched Star Trek: Insurrection and noticed a serendipitous resonance of themes.
The most powerful politic...
After listening to the Obama inauguration speech, I rewatched Star Trek: Insurrection and noticed a serendipitous resonance of themes.
The most powerful political entity fears decline, so its leaders violate its founding principles in secret. Individuals take personal responsibility to sacrifice in support of ideals which, while undisputed, had been compromised for expedience.
One scene depicts a band of figures, very different from each other, standing shoulder to shoulder on a hilltop in defen...
YouTube is failing me. Where can I get video of the inaugural address that doesn't just constantly pause and eventually stop downloading?
edited to add
I listen...
YouTube is failing me. Where can I get video of the inaugural address that doesn't just constantly pause and eventually stop downloading?
edited to add
I listened to audio from The Guardian.
He started not with "My fellow Americans" but "My fellow citizens." That set the tone of responsibility.
We don't need big or small government, but government that works.
He included nonbelievers in the list of united factions. That is consistent with someone who believes if we face reali...
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I mak...
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do somethi...
knows Java really well, which has come in handy for tutoring, I can tell you.
However, she also has a copy of "Beginning Python From Novice To Professional...
knows Java really well, which has come in handy for tutoring, I can tell you.
However, she also has a copy of "Beginning Python From Novice To Professional" by Magnus Lie Hetland lying around. Since Python is the language I want to make actual real projects in, I was curious. So I decided to do my homework again, in Python. This time it was six lines long.
However, I decided to take it further. The new version properly uses singular and plural English. In other words, it will say "...
You guys didn't want to go with me to "The Gallery Project", so you missed out! It's still running until 4PM Sunday afternoon, so you still have a cha...
You guys didn't want to go with me to "The Gallery Project", so you missed out! It's still running until 4PM Sunday afternoon, so you still have a chance.
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Jan. 17, 2009 4:03 AM
I wonder if we should send the gallery some of your pictures...
I noticed that they were putting up some of the other ones that were taken. :)
I've received some very good comments to my blog, concerning the style of my comments in source code. It's true that in professional projects, very obvious comm...
I've received some very good comments to my blog, concerning the style of my comments in source code. It's true that in professional projects, very obvious comments are counterproductive, especially when changes are made to the code they are explaining. However, for the time being, I'm trying to remember Java itself, not the decisions particular to a specific program. So I am temporarily commenting my learning exercises in such a way that a complete newcomer might be able to follow it.
I wish I ...
I would like very much to know who responded anonymously to my post a year and a half ago about learning to program, with the advice I have copied below. Normal...
I would like very much to know who responded anonymously to my post a year and a half ago about learning to program, with the advice I have copied below. Normally I ignore all anonymous posters, but this was a well-intentioned and unusually helpful comment, rather than a cowardly bad anonymous comment. Under the circumstances I would like to know who it is and follow up.
Flashcards aren't likely to help. Or rather, you'll make a little progress, but nowhere near as much as you would actually wr...
Write an application that reads a value representing a number of seconds, then print the equivalent amount of time as a combination of hours, minutes and second...
Write an application that reads a value representing a number of seconds, then print the equivalent amount of time as a combination of hours, minutes and seconds. For example, 9999 seconds is equivalent to 2 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds.
Here is my solution.
// Import the Scanner class to receive console input.
import java.util.Scanner;
// The name of this program, or "class", is "time".
public class time
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Use the Scanner clas...
Halfway break in Java class.
Everyone was surprised that I was never taught in second grade "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally". First you resolve pare...
Halfway break in Java class.
Everyone was surprised that I was never taught in second grade "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally". First you resolve parentheses and exponents, second you resolve multiplication and division operators, third you resolve addition and subtraction operators. However, Java doesn't have the exponent operator and it does have a remainder operator, so I decided it's "Prosecute My Dirty Rotten Aunt Sally".
It's counter-intuitive for me to do integer arith...
Over the holidays I started reading the textbook and creating flashcards in Supermemo on my handheld. These are the ones that were discussed in the first class....
Over the holidays I started reading the textbook and creating flashcards in Supermemo on my handheld. These are the ones that were discussed in the first class. Let me know if you know a better way to put the questions, assuming that's your kind of thing.
Start a multi-line comment with:
/**
Each line of a multi-line comment starts with:
*
End a multi-line comment with:
*/
boolean
defines a variable as true or false
char
defines a variable as a Unicode character
byte
defines a variable as an int...
I walked into the first class of Intro To Java and it was totally quiet. I sat down and the guy behind me asked me, "Hey, why do people learn Java?"
&...
I walked into the first class of Intro To Java and it was totally quiet. I sat down and the guy behind me asked me, "Hey, why do people learn Java?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, why are you taking it?"
"To learn programming. It was that or take C++. Then I'll teach myself Ruby and Python."
"So, like Javascript? Javascript is a subset of Java?"
"No, they really shouldn't have named them alike."
"But Javascript's embedded in all the br...
A few months ago, at the urging of Shawn Powers of Linux Journal, I created an @Penguicon Twitter account for Penguicon to use as an announcements channel. Many...
A few months ago, at the urging of Shawn Powers of Linux Journal, I created an @Penguicon Twitter account for Penguicon to use as an announcements channel. Many of the most tech-savvy people I know enjoy Twitter, so I wanted to give it a fair try. The popularity of Twitter defies explanation, because to me it seems to get four crucial things wrong. Ugly wrong. Almost as wrong as conceivably possible.
1. The uncomfortable process of tweeting
Except for those with sufficient income and/or credit r...
I've done a massive amount of work for Penguicon this morning. The FAQ is still wrong... horribly, horribly wrong... About a week ago it was lifted wholesale fr...
I've done a massive amount of work for Penguicon this morning. The FAQ is still wrong... horribly, horribly wrong... About a week ago it was lifted wholesale from last year's site. But I'm editing it as fast as I can, and it unintentionally served as a wonderful planning document.
Comments
jeffreyab on Jan. 15, 2009 3:44 PM
Speaking of penguicon here is an lj group the con should be posting on:
http://community.livejournal.com/callahanians/
Today I bought a $10 all-semester student bus pass at Washtenaw Community College and took my first successful trip on The Ride. Granted, it took ten times as l...
Today I bought a $10 all-semester student bus pass at Washtenaw Community College and took my first successful trip on The Ride. Granted, it took ten times as long as it had to because I took the long way by mistake, but I got to my destination and back.
I like riding the bus. I can just sit there and do flashcards and listen to podcasts or read a book. I find it relaxing.
Comments
star-gazersusan on Jan. 9, 2009 2:31 AM
I don't know if I could relax. I guess I'd be afraid of missing my stop. S...
I visited "The Gallery Project" on South Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor and found they have a really neat art exhibit going on now. It's a series...
I visited "The Gallery Project" on South Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor and found they have a really neat art exhibit going on now. It's a series of backdrops and sets in which you can take your photograph. Seeing the exhibition is free, but you need to be carrying a photo pass to take photos. A pass costs $20 and since it doesn't have your name on it, the pass can be shared with all your friends, with no limit. (They told me they're really not picky about that.) The exhibition cl...
I need to borrow a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition. I've got a license with a valid activation code, I just need the install media.
Comments
n9uxu on J...
I need to borrow a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition. I've got a license with a valid activation code, I just need the install media.
Comments
n9uxu on Jan. 7, 2009 5:24 AM
I found the original restore disks for the dell, so as soon as I see you next, you'll have your own copy of Media Center.
This is why I've been watching so much of the West Wing:
But this is why I need to stop and get back to work:
paid for a full year of Penguicon's PO Box back du...
This is why I've been watching so much of the West Wing:
But this is why I need to stop and get back to work:
paid for a full year of Penguicon's PO Box back during the wrapup and handover, just like she said she did, of course. It turns out the key stopped working as a mistake on the part of the Post Office. Apparently they thought we only paid for six months, or something. I now have our mail. I dropped off the key at the home of .
I thought I couldn't even ask the Post Office about it if I wa...
This is not a post about all the things that are going right with Penguicon. They are unprecedentedly vast. This is about where I would like some help.
more
This is not a post about all the things that are going right with Penguicon. They are unprecedentedly vast. This is about where I would like some help.
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cooked pork dumplings, and I cooked General Tso's Chicken. Fortunately we both have a high tolerance for failure. We'll probably try again someday. In the meant...
cooked pork dumplings, and I cooked General Tso's Chicken. Fortunately we both have a high tolerance for failure. We'll probably try again someday. In the meantime we are now going to collapse in a heap, resembling the undifferentiated shreds of product we have made during the past hours, and begin to try to eat it. With spoons.
So far I cannot fault the flavor. Only the arrangement of form leaves something to be desired. Dumplings and deep-fried breaded chicken are not intended to be granulated...
Using the gift card my grandfather gave me for Christmas, I bought a new espresso machine on sale. The old one was no longer heating adequately, producing weak,...
Using the gift card my grandfather gave me for Christmas, I bought a new espresso machine on sale. The old one was no longer heating adequately, producing weak, lukewarm steam.
In other news, a friend of Lojbab visited Michigan and stopped by my house to drop off sixty-four copies of The Complete Lojban Language by John Woldemar Cowan. Now I can take over order fulfillment for the Logical Language Group. I've wanted to do that for a long time, but shipping them from Philadelphia to me was prohi...
My friend Tim from Grand Rapids has been reporting frequently to me about the CNC milling machine that he is building based on the RepRap self-replicating rapid...
My friend Tim from Grand Rapids has been reporting frequently to me about the CNC milling machine that he is building based on the RepRap self-replicating rapid prototyper project. I gave him some vector art so he can cut pieces for a game I invented that is played on interlocking gears. His machine will probably be portable enough to bring to Penguicon.
Just wanted to keep you updated... completed assembling my set of RepRap electronics a few days ago. Shimmed up the motor mount spacers, and s...
I'm at Castle Bradaki, and and 's little girl wanted to play a board game. I got out "Hey, That's My Fish" because I knew she could play it. I like th...
I'm at Castle Bradaki, and and 's little girl wanted to play a board game. I got out "Hey, That's My Fish" because I knew she could play it. I like that it can be played at a very deep level or enjoyed by a five-year-old. She understands it perfectly. In fact, as it turns out, she's winning.
Comments
rbradakis on Dec. 29, 2008 10:51 PM — Little B
She's a pretty amazing kid, but I think you should take some credit for being able to explain things in a way that even a five year old can ...
How often are we offered the chance to explore a new social mileau?
My biggest regret involves a memory from public high school. While sitting in drama class, I...
How often are we offered the chance to explore a new social mileau?
My biggest regret involves a memory from public high school. While sitting in drama class, I found a note had been dropped into my bag, to the effect of: "We, the [cool and weird name that I can't remember]s, are a group of interesting misfits. We sense that you might be like us, and invite you to join our group. If you choose to accept it, meet us at the blah during the blah."
I took it to my parents and asked them if...
Attention everyone. For Christmas I received "Monty Python Fluxx", "San Juan" (the card-game version of "Puerto Rico"), and two &q...
Attention everyone. For Christmas I received "Monty Python Fluxx", "San Juan" (the card-game version of "Puerto Rico"), and two "Carcassonne" expansions: "Inns and Cathedrals" and "Traders and Builders". They are incredibly excellent. Let me know which of you would eventually like to play one or more of them with me!
Comments
mmetrumpington on Dec. 26, 2008 6:09 PM
definitely more (than one.) So, can you make the 4th?
matt-arnold on D...
I realized today that the church I used to work for did not offer me a job to operate the camera for their Christmas Eve services tonight. The last time I did t...
I realized today that the church I used to work for did not offer me a job to operate the camera for their Christmas Eve services tonight. The last time I did that for them was their Easter sunrise services. I was incredibly tired, so between services I went up to a classroom where they had a Middle-Eastern tent full of pillows, and took a nap. I got caught. That could have something to do with why they stopped giving me jobs. That's OK. I think I learned everything about myself that I wanted to...
I am thinking about possibly starting a four-times-a-year SMOFcamp for all of fandom and hackerdom to work, brainstorm, and connect using the Open Spaces method...
I am thinking about possibly starting a four-times-a-year SMOFcamp for all of fandom and hackerdom to work, brainstorm, and connect using the Open Spaces method.
First step in planning is hard numbers on what it would cost. I would like to rent a hall, and seek a good location equidistant between Washtenaw County and Macomb County, for a reasonable price. Can you give me recommendations?
Comments
none
I've been giving the benefit of the doubt a lot lately. A job, and a date.
Due to the fact that my friends are awesome, they frequently try to send work my way....
I've been giving the benefit of the doubt a lot lately. A job, and a date.
Due to the fact that my friends are awesome, they frequently try to send work my way. Usually it's bad work that I don't want, but this detracts nothing from the awesomeness of my friends. It's merely due to the vagueness of my job title, and the ambiguity of the applications for my skill set. I have come to see my career direction as a poor fit for me, so it is really not the fault of the job market either.
A few days ag...
I'm at ArbCamp '08, an Unconference in downtown Ann Arbor. I suggested a talk on "Organizing Conferences", so I added it to the board. That discussion...
I'm at ArbCamp '08, an Unconference in downtown Ann Arbor. I suggested a talk on "Organizing Conferences", so I added it to the board. That discussion got fourteen people plus bystanders. A lot of you know Mark Ramm, the Python coder behind TurboGears, and he was an organizer of ArbCamp. He said it took four lunches, spaced a month apart, for about six people to create this event.
The idea of an Unconference is to get people together, with no schedule, based on a shared concern. No gue...
As you know, on Sunday I purchased a really cheap laptop made in the last century. I am thrilled to be typing this on a very good, much less old laptop than tha...
As you know, on Sunday I purchased a really cheap laptop made in the last century. I am thrilled to be typing this on a very good, much less old laptop than that one! It runs Ubuntu Linux. It also comes with little girl stickers on the casing, but that just gives it a historical charm.
Comments
none
Today I drove out to Roseville, north of Detroit near Lake St. Clair, to put down $130 on a laptop I found on Craigslist. Dell Inspiron 7500, 466 Ghz Celeron, 3...
Today I drove out to Roseville, north of Detroit near Lake St. Clair, to put down $130 on a laptop I found on Craigslist. Dell Inspiron 7500, 466 Ghz Celeron, 384 RAM, 24 GB hard drive, Windows XP, and it runs Chrome with no perceptible slowdown. The battery doesn't work, but he warned me about that. Wireless card comes with it and works fine. There's at least one thing that I didn't know I needed to check for. Now that I've got it home, I have just one question.
When did laptops not come with a...
Hey, I neglected to mention on Friday that thanks to and his hacksaw, my car is now working. The bad nut and bolt are replaced. I also purchased a whole replace...
Hey, I neglected to mention on Friday that thanks to and his hacksaw, my car is now working. The bad nut and bolt are replaced. I also purchased a whole replacement connector for the negative battery terminal. I would like to install that, but to do so, I would definitely need to borrow space in someone's heated garage. What am I saying? No one keeps cars in their garages. In the meantime, a copper wire is stuck in the existing connector to make a firm connection.
Comments
amanda_lodden on Dec....
The Beatles said "Happiness is a warm gun." No.
Happiness is a horse in "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" with a name that is 256 charact...
The Beatles said "Happiness is a warm gun." No.
Happiness is a horse in "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" with a name that is 256 characters long, so that as soon as a character tries to speak the name that you gave your horse, it results in a stack crunch (buffer overflow), to exploit a vulnerability that uses those 256 characters to install the Homebrew Channel on the Nintendo Wii game system.
"Homebrew" means games and programs that are written by consumers. J...
My dad has a TV adapter card now, and has started putting our old home videos on YouTube.
As a child, I adapted the story "Many Moons" by James Thurbe...
My dad has a TV adapter card now, and has started putting our old home videos on YouTube.
As a child, I adapted the story "Many Moons" by James Thurber into a stage play. I was the King, my brother Jon was the Jester, and my sister was the Princess.
Comments
sandygood on Nov. 30, 2008 4:48 AM
Well done!
le-bebna-kamni on Nov. 30, 2008 12:21 PM
I think this video goes to show that you haven't changed a bit -- still creative with a dramatic flair, and the strange ability to co-opt ever...
Sometimes when I wake up and open my eyes, I think of the phrase "having a reason to get out of bed in the morning." Then I think "according to t...
Sometimes when I wake up and open my eyes, I think of the phrase "having a reason to get out of bed in the morning." Then I think "according to that phrase, apparently I need a reason!" All this time, I've been doing it wrong.
Pretty soon I made a habit of naming a reason every time. It's just this thing I do-- I figure as long as I have a high natural set-point for happiness in my brain chemistry, that makes this an easier task for me than for most people, I may as well take...
Thanks to everyone who offered to help me! came by yesterday and we made great progress on my car, but time ran out. That's OK. I have multiple available rides ...
Thanks to everyone who offered to help me! came by yesterday and we made great progress on my car, but time ran out. That's OK. I have multiple available rides to each stop on my itinerary.
Also, Jen told fundie mom she has a roommate... who has guy cooties! :)
Comments
sarahmichigan on Nov. 26, 2008 7:13 PM
It's almost like Three's Company!
For those who don't know, Jen's mom is not allowed to know I exist. She is visiting Wednesday of this week through Monday of next week, when I can return to the...
For those who don't know, Jen's mom is not allowed to know I exist. She is visiting Wednesday of this week through Monday of next week, when I can return to the apartment in Ypsilanti. Chuck and Rachel have kindly offered to let me crash on their couch in Utica. Then on Thanksgiving I am going to my parents' house for a few hours. Then to Randy and Sheryl's in Livonia on Friday for Bitchgiving, and the concom meeting on Saturday is also at their home. All in all, it's an incredibly bad time for ...
My car won't start, but I have a lot of Thanksgiving travel needs.
I think it won't start because the metal strap is insufficiently tight on the negative lead o...
My car won't start, but I have a lot of Thanksgiving travel needs.
I think it won't start because the metal strap is insufficiently tight on the negative lead of my car battery. The outside of the nut is so stripped from my struggles to remove it, that it is more like a cylinder than a hexagon. I bought a new nut, a can of WD-40, and locking pliers with a tightening vise screw, and today that finally loosened it. But previous attempts to remove the nut wounded the bolt with deep grooves across t...
Every big idea I have is a web application. There is no question, web programming is what I should go back to school for. Web programming, not desktop programmi...
Every big idea I have is a web application. There is no question, web programming is what I should go back to school for. Web programming, not desktop programming, is the clear choice. I don't care about the desktop. With hard work (and a bit of the luck the market), I will find a way to get an income directly from users and not have to use these skills in service of a boring and pointless project for an employer.
I am seeking the Web Database Developer Advanced Certificate: "Java Server Pr...
Barack Obama promised Planned Parenthood that the first thing he would do as President is sign the Freedom Of Choice Act. This was one of the reasons I voted fo...
Barack Obama promised Planned Parenthood that the first thing he would do as President is sign the Freedom Of Choice Act. This was one of the reasons I voted for him. Essentially, FOCA will codify Roe vs. Wade into federal law. Abortion has been legal since before our generation existed, and I am comfortable knowing my mother had a choice in whether to bring me into existence. That is the one person in whose hands I would put that decision. I would like FOCA to be a definitive and unprecedented ...
is very proud of her master's thesis. It is so full of graphs and charts. Behold.
Statistical Verification of a Curse Cast Upon a Player During the Kingsburg B...
is very proud of her master's thesis. It is so full of graphs and charts. Behold.
Statistical Verification of a Curse Cast Upon a Player During the Kingsburg Board Game
by L.B. Kamni, Miskatonic University
I said behold!
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A learning game built on Wikipedia and Wikibooks.
It could be that our problems will only be solved by education. We have unprecedented access to the world’s kn...
A learning game built on Wikipedia and Wikibooks.
It could be that our problems will only be solved by education. We have unprecedented access to the world’s knowledge, so how can we promote its use? Some argue that one of the biggest motivators of the human race is “Prestige Needs”. The Wikidiploma game provides public recognition for using a public knowledge repository.
A browser plugin records which pages a player has surfed to on Wikipedia and Wikibooks. Each player’s record of Wikipedia pag...
The chat client in Gmail now has audio/video chat. It requires that you install a simple plugin. I've done so, but have not tried it yet. Going forward, you'll ...
The chat client in Gmail now has audio/video chat. It requires that you install a simple plugin. I've done so, but have not tried it yet. Going forward, you'll see a movie camera shape instead of a circle next to my name in your contacts list. Go ahead and video chat with me!
Comments
none
On Overcoming Bias, commenters were asked to advise Jo, who had left this message in a previous discussion:
_"So here I am having been raised in the Chris...
On Overcoming Bias, commenters were asked to advise Jo, who had left this message in a previous discussion:
_"So here I am having been raised in the Christian faith and trying not to freak out over the past few weeks because I've finally begun to wonder whether I believe things just because I was raised with them. Our family is surrounded by genuinely wonderful people who have poured their talents into us since we were teenagers, and our social structure and business rests on the tenets of...
Thanks to , I got a $1,500 tax refund, when I had previously thought I owed money I couldn't pay.
This is the kind of wizardry she has the ability and desire t...
Thanks to , I got a $1,500 tax refund, when I had previously thought I owed money I couldn't pay.
This is the kind of wizardry she has the ability and desire to perform. I don't know where I'd be without her.
Comments
brendand on Nov. 11, 2008 3:28 AM
Glad you got yourself a professional. :)
le-bebna-kamni on Nov. 11, 2008 3:06 PM
Actually, I'm not a professional -- I'm just a friend who helped Matt for free because I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't mind reading the tax documents and crunc...
The HPES page on the Superstruct website
Mission
You've heard of the TV show "1900 House". HPES is “2100 House.” You've heard of Civil War re-enactors...
The HPES page on the Superstruct website
Mission
You've heard of the TV show "1900 House". HPES is “2100 House.” You've heard of Civil War re-enactors and the Society for Creative Anachronism that re-enacts the middle ages. HPES is pre-enactment.The Historical Pre-Enactment Society gets together in person for a few weeks to pre-enact a world-changing solution to test it and locate ways to improve it. HPES rapidly attempts many prototype solutions, measures them, throws them out, and ev...
Wikipedia’s page on commonwealth says: “The original phrase "common-wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth,...
Wikipedia’s page on commonwealth says: “The original phrase "common-wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth," which is "well-being". The term literally meant "common well-being". Thus commonwealth originally meant a state or nation-state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners... Today the term is more general and means a political community.”...
On ElectoralVotes.net, the top map is the actual election result. The map below that is the election projection on the InTrade prediction market. See for yourse...
On ElectoralVotes.net, the top map is the actual election result. The map below that is the election projection on the InTrade prediction market. See for yourself. Unless I misperceive, as I scroll back in time, Indiana and Missouri are the only states whose trading projections changed from red to blue or vice-versa since September.
Projection:
Democrat 364
Republican 174
Actual:
Democrat 364
Republican 174
"If Missouri ends up going for John McCain, Intrade had the electoral vote count de...
My friends.
I want to share this song with you today. It is from The American Adventure, in World Showcase of EPCOT Center.
The American Adventure
From Untitled...
My friends.
I want to share this song with you today. It is from The American Adventure, in World Showcase of EPCOT Center.
The American Adventure
From Untitled Album
Comments
none
I am drinking the free coffee that Starbucks gave me because I told them I voted. I did not have an "I voted" sticker to show the Starbucks cashier, b...
I am drinking the free coffee that Starbucks gave me because I told them I voted. I did not have an "I voted" sticker to show the Starbucks cashier, because the polling place ran out; the election workers said no one expected a turnout of four hundred people! The line at the polling station stretched through the parking lot.
There are two main kind of empty gesture votes: to pat yourself on the back, or to feel like you have a voice. Referencing martyrs is a common form of passive-aggr...
What can I say about my circumstances, that might not be outdated before the knowledge can be applied? Constant change is the new normality.
I live in a modest ...
What can I say about my circumstances, that might not be outdated before the knowledge can be applied? Constant change is the new normality.
I live in a modest basement flat, in someone else's home. In the suburbs. Just outside a major city. In America.
(What's that you say? ... on Earth, of course. Very cute, but the year is 2019, not 2091. I turned forty-five in June, and I do not expect to leave this planet.)
I don't know how long I'll be living there. My furniture has built-in handles. My ve...
One of the perks of Metaplace beta is in the worldbuilding editor: the global chat, where one has access to meet and have a conversation with Raph Koster.
Comme...
One of the perks of Metaplace beta is in the worldbuilding editor: the global chat, where one has access to meet and have a conversation with Raph Koster.
Comments
none
I got my long-awaited invite to beta-test Metaplace, a web-app from a company whose president is the amazing Raph Koster, author of "A Theory of Fun in Gam...
I got my long-awaited invite to beta-test Metaplace, a web-app from a company whose president is the amazing Raph Koster, author of "A Theory of Fun in Game Design". See if this link works for you to visit my Metaplace. [Edited to add: It turns out the beta is not just for worldbuilding. Apparently you can't visit and play without being in the beta.] Metaplace demo on YouTube.
"What happened to Second Life?" I hear you ask. It's been fun to build things in Second Life, and my...
If any of you are curious about prediction markets, there are interesting specific real-life examples in this article on Overcoming Bias that illustrate how it ...
If any of you are curious about prediction markets, there are interesting specific real-life examples in this article on Overcoming Bias that illustrate how it works.
Using Prediction Markets to Track Information Flow: Evidence from Google.
A 2008 Presidential Election Map based on predictions from InTrade, one of the prominent real-money prediction markets.
Comments
none
I am motivated by rewards, not punishment; by attainment of hopes, not avoidance of fears; by promise, not threat; by thriving, not surviving. So, it has been d...
I am motivated by rewards, not punishment; by attainment of hopes, not avoidance of fears; by promise, not threat; by thriving, not surviving. So, it has been deeply difficult and emotional. After weeks of agonizing, I have finally contributed something to Superstruct. Here it is.
Botboss
The Botboss strategy combines Prediction Markets with near-mindless games like the Google Image Labeler. Prediction Markets give cunning, wealthy, powerful sociopaths a larger incentive to tell us the truth, th...
I had a followup interview this afternoon at the Apple Store, which I think went well. There may be a decision within a week.
Comments
druidsfire on Oct. 31, 2...
I had a followup interview this afternoon at the Apple Store, which I think went well. There may be a decision within a week.
Comments
druidsfire on Oct. 31, 2008 12:28 AM
Good luck!
sheryl67 on Oct. 31, 2008 12:32 AM
Good luck! :crosses fingers:
loop-bell on Nov. 1, 2008 1:59 PM
Being asked to do a follow-up is usually a good sign -- best of luck!
le-bebna-kamni on Nov. 1, 2008 3:57 PM
Whoohoo! Glad to hear it went well. I look forward to the details when you get home this weekend.
Programmers! The Logical Language Group, LLC, of which I am President, is offering $500 for the creation of a CFG (Context-Free Grammar) or BNF (Backus-Naur for...
Programmers! The Logical Language Group, LLC, of which I am President, is offering $500 for the creation of a CFG (Context-Free Grammar) or BNF (Backus-Naur form, or formal notation) for Lojban that includes the elidable terminators, using whatever parser generator of your choice.
Feel free to build on the BNF here or the one here. Currently elidable terminators are the only thing missing from the computerized version of our grammar.
You know in HTML how you start with a bracketed tag, then clos...
Oops. There has been a calendar mistake. I need somewhere else to be for Wednesday through Saturday night of this week. Is anyone willing to take a houseguest?...
Oops. There has been a calendar mistake. I need somewhere else to be for Wednesday through Saturday night of this week. Is anyone willing to take a houseguest? It would not need to be for the whole time, because I can find multiple couches to crash on.
Comments
guyfie on Oct. 27, 2008 4:23 PM
My sofa is always open.
netmouse on Oct. 27, 2008 7:03 PM
You can crash here also. I will actually not be here during that time except for Thursday night (and is there any possibility you could drive me ...
The last post discussed the information problem and hinted that there may be a solution. Bear with me-- I hope I don't turn off every smart person reading this,...
The last post discussed the information problem and hinted that there may be a solution. Bear with me-- I hope I don't turn off every smart person reading this, by revealing at the beginning that the solution may lie in a type of "market". It's not the kind you think. I think anarchist libertarians need to acknowledge that corporations are a form of government, so this post is not a post about unbridled free markets.
Now, that having been said: markets are known to be just incredibly p...
We have the most powerful, wealthy, and influential nation in the world, run as a republic in which the citizens get to vote. All that power and money is up for...
We have the most powerful, wealthy, and influential nation in the world, run as a republic in which the citizens get to vote. All that power and money is up for grabs to whoever is the best at swaying that vote. As a result, the most talented deceivers in the world are here. This power center hones the art of manipulation for use in service of the two major factions.
This is why the information system is broken. Science and academic research are contaminated by politics when they enter the chann...
One of my favorite science fiction authors, Peter Watts, blogged an amazing article referencing a whole raft of scientific studies to explain why the behavior o...
One of my favorite science fiction authors, Peter Watts, blogged an amazing article referencing a whole raft of scientific studies to explain why the behavior of the sort exhibited by Sarah Palin is popular with anyone, ever. An excerpt:
People perceive nonexistent patterns, meanings, and connections in random data when they are stressed, scared, and generally feel a loss of control in their own lives.
Right-wing people are more easily scared/stressed than left-wing people. They are also more l...
I completely failed to communicate effectively to the barber.
Know what's all the rage right now? Hats.
Comments
druidsfire on Oct. 10, 2008 5:27 PM
One word: ...
I completely failed to communicate effectively to the barber.
Know what's all the rage right now? Hats.
Comments
druidsfire on Oct. 10, 2008 5:27 PM
One word: Fedora.
zifferent on Oct. 10, 2008 5:50 PM
Wow. How bad can it be? Did he shave your head?
copingwithcows on Oct. 10, 2008 8:00 PM
I'm so sorry Matt!
earthenwood on Oct. 10, 2008 8:07 PM
oh noes!!!
rbradakis on Oct. 11, 2008 12:37 AM
Pics or it didn't happen! No, really, let's see some pictures.
artemisia-starr on Oct. 11, 2008 4:51 ...
I know my friends list can help with this. When the DSL is installed in this apartment next week, we want to set up a computer that does nothing but serve publi...
I know my friends list can help with this. When the DSL is installed in this apartment next week, we want to set up a computer that does nothing but serve public wireless access to our own personal favorite internet sites (with the exception of Google or other search engines because they act as proxies to the whole web). It must also throttle bandwidth on that public access.
The purpose is to make it easy for our friends to access sites we have pre-selected as related to Lojban or CREM/FOMS from...
I've heard that in order to be a good radio DJ you have to select music that isn't what they're already hearing on mainstream radio, but also music that's reall...
I've heard that in order to be a good radio DJ you have to select music that isn't what they're already hearing on mainstream radio, but also music that's really high-quality. If you run a clothing boutique you have to give them clothing that they'll love but which is not on the shelves at Walmart. You give people things that maybe they didn't know they were going to love. PodDisc is like that.
I'm launching the Drabblecast on the store in a few days, and I am really proud of this. My favorite p...
As long as I'm living here, is giving me a sub-account on her Netflix account. I'd like to make use of the Friends aspect of the site. Who else is on Netflix? ...
As long as I'm living here, is giving me a sub-account on her Netflix account. I'd like to make use of the Friends aspect of the site. Who else is on Netflix? Add me with the username Matt_Arnold or leave your username in the comments. link
Comments
amanda_lodden on Oct. 8, 2008 12:39 AM
As I go to add friends, it seems to want an email address rather than a username. I COULD start guessing at which email address you used, but I don't particularly want Netflix to start spamming all your addres...
We will see in about two weeks. They have a couple of other candidates, none of whom they have interviewed yet. That's out of an original applicant pool of 500....
We will see in about two weeks. They have a couple of other candidates, none of whom they have interviewed yet. That's out of an original applicant pool of 500. I think I was the only one of them who did not actually apply-- they asked me for my resume on the basis of a recommendation.
I explained to them the reason I had never applied was that I have no idea as to what kind of position at the Apple Store I would be qualified for. I was burning up with curiosity on that point. They want a record...
I HAVE AN INTERVIEW TOMORROW MORNING AT THE APPLE STORE!
THEY WILL TELL ME HOW TO FIX MY CAPS LOCK!
BUT SERIOUSLY, IT'S FOR A SPECIFIC POSITION THAT THE MANAGE...
I HAVE AN INTERVIEW TOMORROW MORNING AT THE APPLE STORE!
THEY WILL TELL ME HOW TO FIX MY CAPS LOCK!
BUT SERIOUSLY, IT'S FOR A SPECIFIC POSITION THAT THE MANAGER HAS IN MIND FOR ME! THANK YOU EDUARDO!
Comments
bardicwench on Oct. 6, 2008 10:07 PM
Good luck!
druidsfire on Oct. 7, 2008 12:42 AM
Good luck, dude. :)
chance-sparhawk on Oct. 7, 2008 1:00 AM
Good luck Matt
sheryl67 on Oct. 7, 2008 1:53 AM
GOOD LUCK!
artemisia-starr on Oct. 7, 2008 2:48 AM
^_^
Good luck!
brendand on Oct. 7, 2008 2...
My podcasting presentation went as well as could be expected, given making the best of the unlucky conditions.
My reliable circadian rythms normally knock me ou...
My podcasting presentation went as well as could be expected, given making the best of the unlucky conditions.
My reliable circadian rythms normally knock me out at 1:30 to 2:30 AM at a convention. For the first time they failed me. I stumbled into a sleeping bag in the room adjacent to consuite at 4 AM. It is normally not difficult for me to sleep there, even though it's next to a room full of revelers. I was scheduled to work the 6 AM consuite shift, but did an extra hour and let me sleep in ...
The panel on blogging went well. When I gave a Penguicon business card to Michelle Sagara, ConClave's author guest of honor, she said everyone has been telling ...
The panel on blogging went well. When I gave a Penguicon business card to Michelle Sagara, ConClave's author guest of honor, she said everyone has been telling her to go to it.
My presentation on podcasting will start at eight. My laptop broke recently, and loaned me hers. There may or may not be a projector.
I'm talking to Gerald now about restaurants for our Thursday night dinner, and discussing how Penguicon's current concom is amazingly non-picky about restaurants this year. Hardly any aller...
So I dropped off the first thirty or so orders at the local "Goin' Postal: Your Friendly Neighborhood Shipping Center". While I was there filling out ...
So I dropped off the first thirty or so orders at the local "Goin' Postal: Your Friendly Neighborhood Shipping Center". While I was there filling out international customs forms, I got the casheir to bring up PodDisc.com on his computer and he was really interested, so I hope I have a new customer.
Then I drove to this guy's home here in town and hand-delivered his CD. I have a bottle of glue that turns things into removable sticky-notes. I put it on the blank area on the front of a Pe...
Announcing the newest podcast available on archive CD through PodDisc.com, Writing Excuses! Here is the shopping cart site for their Season One.
Brandon Sanders...
Announcing the newest podcast available on archive CD through PodDisc.com, Writing Excuses! Here is the shopping cart site for their Season One.
Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler present a tightly-paced podcast of advice for writers. This CD is the first complete season of MP3 episodes, each one “fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.” It includes bonus episodes, outtakes, a full novel, sample chapters, essays, and desktop wallpapers.
I've alread...
"7 years on.
Why does it still evoke so much emotion when I think about it?
I don't know...but I hope it never becomes just another day to me.
Some things ...
"7 years on.
Why does it still evoke so much emotion when I think about it?
I don't know...but I hope it never becomes just another day to me.
Some things are worth a violent, visceral, angry, resolved, proud, patriotic remembrance."
- PCCboard
I have waited until now to post this, in order to not join the flood of September 11 posts about remembering what happened seven years ago. But following 's comments to my last post, I think it's time.
I do not commemorate 9/11. It is just anot...
Last night, after said she couldn't go with me to the Obama speech due to sickness, it took a long time for me to decide whether to go. My plan had been to rea...
Last night, after said she couldn't go with me to the Obama speech due to sickness, it took a long time for me to decide whether to go. My plan had been to read stories to her and maybe play a pocket game, and I would be bored out of my mind without her.
That led to a good conversation about why I was going. I have no interest in what Barack Obama will say today. We are at that point in the political process where a candidate must make pre-processed soundbites to win the election.
If it was his...
My new address is 2835 Bynan Dr, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, in The Villas apartment complex. From I-23 where it meets Washtenaw Road, you can see a big capital "...
My new address is 2835 Bynan Dr, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, in The Villas apartment complex. From I-23 where it meets Washtenaw Road, you can see a big capital "A" sign for Arborland Mall. That is the landmark I've always used to identify the region.
Comments
dnance02 on Sep. 23, 2008 7:44 PM
Welcome to the neighborhood. :)
My car is now working, thanks to Freon. As he is a wiseacre, he arranged the car radio so that when I turned the ignition, there would be preaching.
According t...
My car is now working, thanks to Freon. As he is a wiseacre, he arranged the car radio so that when I turned the ignition, there would be preaching.
According to the preacher, Christians don't need to get involved in politics, because if they convert people, those people will control their fellow Americans' lifestyles with the voting decisions that the preacher thinks God wants them to make. They will become Doctrinally Correct. This will come as news to the millions of Americans who say they're...
I am amused. Recently someone had their signifigant other write up a contract for me to sign. He then took that contract back because it was written in plain En...
I am amused. Recently someone had their signifigant other write up a contract for me to sign. He then took that contract back because it was written in plain English, and re-wrote it himself. He seems to think inscrutable legalese and covering your behind with contracts is required to be professionalistic.* I regard it as unneccesary; if for any reason he someday said "hey, it's not working for me anymore and we're done," we're just done. It's not like a contract would change that. I'm...
I might move in with J in her apartment in Ypsilanti. There are arguments to be made for and against. It's a difficult decision and one that has been pondered f...
I might move in with J in her apartment in Ypsilanti. There are arguments to be made for and against. It's a difficult decision and one that has been pondered for months. By no means is this a decision entered lightly or quickly.
More Serious Pros:
More Serious Cons:
rent-free, not owing R any more rent money
less than perfect wireless internet
a job market I haven't tapped out
farther from friends and collaborators
not getting kicked out whenever R's new guy visits (I'm almost living here alrea...
During my latest reading about Superstruct, I also found Akoha. Here's what the Akoha site says:
Akoha is the world's first social reality game where you can e...
During my latest reading about Superstruct, I also found Akoha. Here's what the Akoha site says:
Akoha is the world's first social reality game where you can earn points by playing real-world missions with your friends. Missions might include giving someone your favorite book, inviting a friend for drinks, or buying a friend some chocolate.
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We had three candidates for Conchair of Penguicon 2010. They elected !
Comments
brendand on Sep. 16, 2008 2:33 AM
Who were the other candidates? And who does t...
We had three candidates for Conchair of Penguicon 2010. They elected !
Comments
brendand on Sep. 16, 2008 2:33 AM
Who were the other candidates? And who does the voting? 5 Board members?
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!
You will find out soon.
Comments
druidsfire on Sep. 13, 2008 11:32 PM
That there is a tease, ol' son. XD
rmeidaking on ...
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!
You will find out soon.
Comments
druidsfire on Sep. 13, 2008 11:32 PM
That there is a tease, ol' son. XD
rmeidaking on Sep. 14, 2008 12:58 AM
Are we supposed to guess???? I have some ideas....
My original hand-carved Shogi set is complete, with both colors of glaze fired. I've also made two more complete sets with the stamps, dried and awaiting bisque...
My original hand-carved Shogi set is complete, with both colors of glaze fired. I've also made two more complete sets with the stamps, dried and awaiting bisque firing. Here is one of them.
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Google's Picasa web photo albums have a new face detection feature. It asks you whether you would like it to locate all faces in all your photos. If you say yes...
Google's Picasa web photo albums have a new face detection feature. It asks you whether you would like it to locate all faces in all your photos. If you say yes, it churns for a while and presents you with hundreds of thumbnail images of faces extracted from your photos. It asks you to confirm and correct the groupings that it thinks are the same person, which is extremely accurate. It asks you to assign names to them. Then it labels them all in your photos and lets you browse all the photos you...
I love naming things. If you ever find yourself saying, "but what are we going to call it?" please let me name it.
Comments
rmeidaking on Sep. 4, 200...
I love naming things. If you ever find yourself saying, "but what are we going to call it?" please let me name it.
Comments
rmeidaking on Sep. 4, 2008 5:25 PM
Heh. You'll have to beat my son K to it. He names the squirrels that come to the birdfeeder. He has been known to name flowers in the garden. I suspect he would name the furniture if we suggested it to him. The blue spruce tree is "Bruce".
eposia on Sep. 4, 2008 6:41 PM
well, there's this project...
hehehe.
sheryl67 ...
Google has its own web browser now, called Chrome. Read their comic book about it. It's a prime example of presentation comics, which I described a few weeks ag...
Google has its own web browser now, called Chrome. Read their comic book about it. It's a prime example of presentation comics, which I described a few weeks ago. Think to yourself what it would have been like if Google had presented you with a page of pure text instead. Throughout reading it, I was thinking they obviously had been reading Scott McCloud's works. I got to the last page and it turns out Scott McCloud adapted it to a comic. My admiration for the Chrome comic knows no bounds.
Commen...
Rachel didn't mean any harm by her comments, which I really exaggerated. i am a dork
she appears to be mollified by all lower case letters and no punctuation
ha...
Rachel didn't mean any harm by her comments, which I really exaggerated. i am a dork
she appears to be mollified by all lower case letters and no punctuation
ha ha what fun
Comments
rbradakis on Aug. 30, 2008 3:47 AM
People being dead around you causes stress. Stress makes people dorks sometimes. Completely understandable.
I saw many people at Aaron's funeral who I haven't seen in six years or more. One high-school or college-age girl approached Rachel and I, and we realized when ...
I saw many people at Aaron's funeral who I haven't seen in six years or more. One high-school or college-age girl approached Rachel and I, and we realized when we saw her last, she was a small child. Now she has two eyebrow rings, earlobe spreaders, and many tatoos. So naturally I gave her my Penguicon business card and told her she should attend and it will be fun.
It was Rachel's mission, continued from her visit to the viewing, to loudly announce to as many as possible whatever controversial ...
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Comments
dragonsmith0 on Aug. 29, 2008 4:29 AM
This is a great step in the right direction. Thanks for posting i...
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Comments
dragonsmith0 on Aug. 29, 2008 4:29 AM
This is a great step in the right direction. Thanks for posting it!
DS0
zillafan on Aug. 29, 2008 3:53 PM
Downloaded this extension yesterday. Awesome.
le-bebna-kamni on Sep. 3, 2008 6:40 PM
Yes, but now how do I decide whether or not to use Chrome, or Firefox?
I've been thinking, "What does my webcomic need?"
1. Less monologue, more dialogue
2. Response to the phone with "hello, God?" which it was ...
I've been thinking, "What does my webcomic need?"
1. Less monologue, more dialogue
2. Response to the phone with "hello, God?" which it was really foreshadowing anyway
3. More fun to draw
So here is page five again, except totally different, picking up from here:
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If Bill Kolasa calls you and asks to come over and says he has something to give you, be aware that it concerns one of those multi-level marketing pyramid schem...
If Bill Kolasa calls you and asks to come over and says he has something to give you, be aware that it concerns one of those multi-level marketing pyramid schemes he's perpetually involved in.
I didn't buy their Mona-Vie Acai Drink. I showed them R's bottle in the fridge which she got from her co-worker, and I said their drink is a bad-tasting drink. I felt it safer not to mention what I think of the health claims.
Then I got him and his salesman buddy really excited about registering for Pengui...
R lent me her car for the day, and there was a Death Cab For Cutie CD in there. I was introduced to "I'll Follow You Into The Dark". I didn't know the...
R lent me her car for the day, and there was a Death Cab For Cutie CD in there. I was introduced to "I'll Follow You Into The Dark". I didn't know they did songs about death from a basically nonreligious perspective. I've been thinking about this song ever since.
Love of mine
Some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
No blinding light
Or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If heaven and hell decide...
My brother-in-law abruptly died tonight. The cause is unknown. One minute he was there, another he was gone.
A few weeks ago he was hospitalized and put in an i...
My brother-in-law abruptly died tonight. The cause is unknown. One minute he was there, another he was gone.
A few weeks ago he was hospitalized and put in an induced coma in intensive care for a bleeding stomach ulcer. But we don't know if it's related.
I knew Aaron since college. He leaves behind my sister Emily and my seven-year-old neice Bethanne.
Comments
druidsfire on Aug. 25, 2008 4:37 AM
I am truly sorry to hear of your loss.
toni-rey on Aug. 25, 2008 5:03 AM
That is awful. You and you...
The latest books I have received through Bookmooch are:
Fiction
Greg Egan
Axiomatic
Matthew Woodring Stover
Heroes Die
John Scalzi
The Android's Dream
Nonfictio...
The latest books I have received through Bookmooch are:
Fiction
Greg Egan
Axiomatic
Matthew Woodring Stover
Heroes Die
John Scalzi
The Android's Dream
Nonfiction
Neil Stephenson
In The Beginning Was The Command Line
Bruce Tognazzini
Tog on Software Design
Maggie Craddock
The Authentic Career: Following the Path of Self-Discovery to Authentic Fulfillment
The following books remain on my wishlist, so if you have them locally, I'd love to borrow them.
Fiction
Iain M Banks
Consider Phlebas
Ian McDon...
Here are [the results of this year's Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest](Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest) to produce the worst opening sentences of imaginary novels. A...
Here are [the results of this year's Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest](Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest) to produce the worst opening sentences of imaginary novels. An example:
The day started out as uneventfully as any other, and continued thus to midday and from there it was nothing at all to ease into an evening of numbing, undiluted monotony that survived unmarred by even the least act of momentary peculiarity-in fact, let's skip that day altogether and start with the day after.
Jon Starr
Rumford...
Now half the keys on my only USB keyboard have stopped working. So, although I have a tablet for the Mac, I don't have a keyboard.
All I need is a humble commod...
Now half the keys on my only USB keyboard have stopped working. So, although I have a tablet for the Mac, I don't have a keyboard.
All I need is a humble commodity USB keyboard; I can get one for $6 plus shipping on Newegg.com, but I would be amazed if no one I know has one sitting around that they don't care about anymore. Anyone have one they'd part with at garage-sale prices?
Comments
n9uxu on Aug. 13, 2008 6:42 PM
I can hook you up with one at no charge (I have lots). I am, of course, here ...
I'm spending the day in Ann Arbor and will attend Tuesdays at Tios at 9PM. Call me if you want to hang out before then. 248-787-7436. I'm currently at the libra...
I'm spending the day in Ann Arbor and will attend Tuesdays at Tios at 9PM. Call me if you want to hang out before then. 248-787-7436. I'm currently at the library. I'll be wandering around the vicinity of Liberty and Main, browsing Vault of Midnight and the chess store.
I just found Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair. It's a very fun store for all your robot-related swag! Their back room is the tutoring center of 826 Michigan, a free charitable tutoring and writing center for kids. Robot Sup...
Me: My Mac Mini won't boot.
Apple Genius: This blank DVD was stuck in there and the Mac Mini was trying to boot from it.
Me: Yeah, it kept spitting out blank DV...
Me: My Mac Mini won't boot.
Apple Genius: This blank DVD was stuck in there and the Mac Mini was trying to boot from it.
Me: Yeah, it kept spitting out blank DVDs.
Apple Genius: It doesn't have a DVD burner.
Me: Oh.
Apple Genius: That would be why you can't burn them.
Me: Oh.
Apple Genius: This is the third time you've been in here for warranty work. Bad luck, huh?
Me: I wouldn't say that. Since I learned Eduardo* worked here, it's been fun for him to introduce me to you folks.
Apple Genius: Yea...
1. I'm good at delivering presentations.
2. I like making comics, except for the part where I have to make up a fictional dramatic narrative.
3. Presentations w...
1. I'm good at delivering presentations.
2. I like making comics, except for the part where I have to make up a fictional dramatic narrative.
3. Presentations with hand-drawn explanatory slides instead of those powerpoint slides full of redundant words. YES. This feels like destiny.
Reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics struck me with the incredible explanatory power that comes along with combining words and pictures. Above all traits, it is a book of overwhelming lucidity. Words alone, o...
In early 2007, my desktop hard drives repeatedly crashed simultaneously with the Palm that they were backing up, costing me my data for the last time. I stopped...
In early 2007, my desktop hard drives repeatedly crashed simultaneously with the Palm that they were backing up, costing me my data for the last time. I stopped using Palm for personal info management, switching entirely to Google and giving up having it in my pocket.
I had been using the Supermemo flashcard program to memorize Lojban vocbulary since August of two thousand four. I faced a backlog of hundreds of flashcards, when I had just finished slogging through all of them when the same thing...
I have a little Adesso CyberTablet 6400 pressure-sensitive drawing pad. It was within my price range on eBay all those years ago when I bought it. It's supposed...
I have a little Adesso CyberTablet 6400 pressure-sensitive drawing pad. It was within my price range on eBay all those years ago when I bought it. It's supposedly a poor substitute for Graphire by Wacom, but I don't care. Is there seriously a perceptible difference between 512 and 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity to justify paying $100 $230 instead of $50 $60?
Last night it started working wrongly. Instead of clicking when I press the tip to the pad, it starts clicking when I press and releas...
The latest episode of Escape Pod is my favorite thus far. "How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice" by Jonat...
The latest episode of Escape Pod is my favorite thus far. "How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice" by Jonathan "Sullydog" Sullivan. In addition to being a science fiction author, Sullydog practices and teaches emergency medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital and is a researcher into the causes of stroke. He's been a really cool presenter at Penguicon, including the panel about "Brain As Computer Metaphor".
Comments
none
I've been waiting, but somebody has to be the first to say it. In place of Buffy this year, "Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog" live re-enactment at Pengu...
I've been waiting, but somebody has to be the first to say it. In place of Buffy this year, "Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog" live re-enactment at Penguicon.
I volunteer!
Comments
avt-tor on Aug. 4, 2008 1:15 AM — All the birds are singing 'cause...
That would be a reason to go to Penguicon (if I'm not going somewhere else that weekend).
druidsfire on Aug. 4, 2008 1:52 AM
You're the con chair, sometimes you need to stop delegating. ;)
twoofdtm on Aug. 4, 2008 2:09 AM
I'm in! SO IN!!!
...
It's time once again for the latest screed by the founder of the Non-Existent People's Liberation Front, Orson Scott Card.
Mr. Card insists that his own reason ...
It's time once again for the latest screed by the founder of the Non-Existent People's Liberation Front, Orson Scott Card.
Mr. Card insists that his own reason to live-- making sure his children give him grandchildren whether they want them or not-- is not chosen by his own priorities; rather, it's the only possible reason for anyone to live. (This, from someone who makes his income with his imagination?) Mr. Card appeals to a biological imperative to prompt his sympathizers to overthrow the gov...
Cory Doctorow returns to Michigan in 2009 as Guest of Honor at ConFusion! He was a 2005 Guest of Honor at Penguicon (the first convention ever to make him a GoH...
Cory Doctorow returns to Michigan in 2009 as Guest of Honor at ConFusion! He was a 2005 Guest of Honor at Penguicon (the first convention ever to make him a GoH), and blew the roof off the place with a tidal wave of awesome.
Cory Doctorow makes most of his fiction available on the web for free. Here's the list of specifically hacker-oriented fiction, just because that subset is what I happen to already have on hand: Little Brother, Scroogled, 0wnz0red, Themepunks, Printcrime, I, Robot, When Sysa...
I'm blogging this from Con-Versation, Michigan's annual relaxicon, where we have just finished several hands of The Great Dalmuti, inspiring me to take this pho...
I'm blogging this from Con-Versation, Michigan's annual relaxicon, where we have just finished several hands of The Great Dalmuti, inspiring me to take this photo.
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I am a week overdue in telling you about The Dark Knight. This is the best movie I've seen this year, in a summer when my expectations are unprecedented.
You re...
I am a week overdue in telling you about The Dark Knight. This is the best movie I've seen this year, in a summer when my expectations are unprecedented.
You remember I said that in order to avoid bankrupting myself on theater tickets, I would only see this season's crop on video, in second-run theaters, or as a gift from a friend, as an excercise in moviegoing self-discipline. I've held to that. Jen asked me months ago to pick one film as a gift from her, and on the strength of the trailer and ...
This is the PDF for the program I designed for PyOhio. It's Ohio's regional conference about Python, a free and open source programming language. It takes place...
This is the PDF for the program I designed for PyOhio. It's Ohio's regional conference about Python, a free and open source programming language. It takes place Saturday of this week. Alas, I will not be able to attend due to conflicts.
The program is to be printed on one double-sided 11"x17" sheet and folded twice.
Comments
none
In this post, I will make another feeble attempt to think like a businessperson. Well, perhaps not quite. Business plans are stereotypically concerned with star...
In this post, I will make another feeble attempt to think like a businessperson. Well, perhaps not quite. Business plans are stereotypically concerned with starting a company, hiring employees, changing the world, and becoming rich. This plan concerns merely generating enough supplementary income to live on. I have realized that life itself requires a business plan, so that counts.
As I have been mentioning to anyone who will listen, I am inspired to earn income by having customers and tip-donor...
Tor.com is not your typical company website, once again proving why they're my favorite paper publisher. This site is a reader community, offering author/editor...
Tor.com is not your typical company website, once again proving why they're my favorite paper publisher. This site is a reader community, offering author/editor blogs, free original stories, and a cover art gallery. To generate anticipation before the site launched, they were giving away one free unrestricted ebook per week. Now that the site is launched, they're re-releasing all of the ebooks in that program for free at the same time, plus a new graphic novel. They kicked it off with a new stor...
At Jen's apartment in Wixom, I slipped in the shower while reaching for a towel and landed on my butt. I'm fine, but the towel rack didn't fare as well.
more
At Jen's apartment in Wixom, I slipped in the shower while reaching for a towel and landed on my butt. I'm fine, but the towel rack didn't fare as well.
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On the way home from the puppet play, and I talked about how we had seen people burning off stress and aggression by playing games.
We also wondered and hyp...
On the way home from the puppet play, and I talked about how we had seen people burning off stress and aggression by playing games.
We also wondered and hypothesized about whether the problems of the whole world were folded into the scope of what we are expected to care for, on top of each individual's own challenges, and whether that causes people to collapse or come unhinged.
As if attuned to those two themes, the Google Alert that I set up to track Superstruct sent me actual paying job of...
I made this board in the mid-nineties out of air-drying paperclay and painted it with guache. I painted wooden tiles with Japanese hiragana and katakana charact...
I made this board in the mid-nineties out of air-drying paperclay and painted it with guache. I painted wooden tiles with Japanese hiragana and katakana characters, and invented a Mah-Jongg variant to memorize them. It was a much less boring way to do flashcards. If you click the image and go to my web gallery, then click the magnifying glass button to the upper right of the photo, you can see lots of texture and detail.
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I need about 48 identical squares, anywhere between an inch and a half to two inches across, of an opaque material stiff enough to not easily dog-ear on the cor...
I need about 48 identical squares, anywhere between an inch and a half to two inches across, of an opaque material stiff enough to not easily dog-ear on the corners. They would have to be fairly inexpensive. I want to playtest a game design and see what happens.
Rules
Equipment:
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watched "Waking Life" with me today. Fun and thought-provoking! Of all the people with whom to watch a film composed of interminable lectures full of ...
watched "Waking Life" with me today. Fun and thought-provoking! Of all the people with whom to watch a film composed of interminable lectures full of wise-sounding bullshit, if you select me as your viewing partner, you could do far worse. I will replace them with my own interminable lectures of wise-sounding bullshit. ;)
This reminded me of the following faux-religious text I wrote several years ago. Since then I have gotten much better at keeping my eyes open to the world around me r...
I just lost a temp assignment paying a very good rate to design websites, because I couldn't think of any URLs to send them to. An hour ago everyone was excited...
I just lost a temp assignment paying a very good rate to design websites, because I couldn't think of any URLs to send them to. An hour ago everyone was excited and it looked like I had it in the bag. The agent just called to ask for samples, and I choked in obvious shame and embarrassment about how I have no online professional experience to show.
My work for Valenite is locked up behind passwords. I don't want employers going to my personal site, because it's the kind of content that should no...
ConVersation, MPCon, and PyOhio are all on the same weekend. I'll go to ConVersation and leave briefly to have a meeting with the MPCon organizers and their spo...
ConVersation, MPCon, and PyOhio are all on the same weekend. I'll go to ConVersation and leave briefly to have a meeting with the MPCon organizers and their sponsors. Even though I'm doing the program book for PyOhio, Columbus is too far away to catch either of the other events.
Comments
none
(1.6 MB PDF file)
A useful read, all the more so because it gets to the point quickly.
I wish I could say the same of the nonfiction books that clutter my shelv...
(1.6 MB PDF file)
A useful read, all the more so because it gets to the point quickly.
I wish I could say the same of the nonfiction books that clutter my shelves. I don't make it through one or two chapters of the typical professional book, no matter how the topic electrifies me, no matter how much I respect the author. I get bored out of my skull, because the amazing central idea has to be fluffed out with filler to turn it into a publishable book. "Good grief, I got the point twelve exam...
Look, I'm sorry if this clip makes you feel bad about yourself, because that's not the point. It's the world we live in. If the shoe fits, wear it, and make you...
Look, I'm sorry if this clip makes you feel bad about yourself, because that's not the point. It's the world we live in. If the shoe fits, wear it, and make your religious expression more sophisticated. If the shoe doesn't fit, I'm not intending to make it fit you. Not everything is about you.
Comments
dawnwolf on Jun. 29, 2008 2:47 AM — Oh, fuck them. And him. And you.
I neither need nor want a political movement to justify my own faith and beliefs. I don't want or want you approval, either. N...
It took two days and two tire stores, but the car is now set right. came out and picked me up to help with "moving day" on Thursday, and on the way ba...
It took two days and two tire stores, but the car is now set right. came out and picked me up to help with "moving day" on Thursday, and on the way back and forth we stopped at my car and the tire store. There wasn't time to get both tires replaced that day, and then she left for the trip and won't be back 'til Monday. On Friday met me at the tire store local to us, to drive me to the first day at my new temp assignment. It was cool to get to know her.
Oddly, the new client doesn't hav...
An instant message from Jen on her road trip.
Topic for LJ discussion: What is existential porn? Define existential porn. Provide examples. Examples accompanie...
An instant message from Jen on her road trip.
Topic for LJ discussion: What is existential porn? Define existential porn. Provide examples. Examples accompanied by graphic illustrations get extra credit.
Well Jen, there is a Rule of the Internet that says "No matter what it is, there's porn of it."
Comments
none
I have a temp job starting tomorrow (Friday) and going through Thursday. The pay rate is wonderfully satisfactory. It's a Production Artist position. Whereas Gr...
I have a temp job starting tomorrow (Friday) and going through Thursday. The pay rate is wonderfully satisfactory. It's a Production Artist position. Whereas Graphic Design focuses on creativity and taste, Production Art focuses instead on software technical proficiency and special understanding of the final print manufacturing requirements. Right now, Production Art is closer to how I want to use my existing experience and training for my professional life. So this is good news.
Comments
rbrad...
I had two different tires blow out on the same trip! For the first one I used my spare. For the second one, R saw her way clear to kindly drive out at quarter a...
I had two different tires blow out on the same trip! For the first one I used my spare. For the second one, R saw her way clear to kindly drive out at quarter after 11 PM and pick me up from the shoulder of 696 at Lahser.
The car is still there, while I am stranded at home. Tomorrow I need to figure out how to get transportation to fetch the rims, take them to a tire place, get new tires put on them, and take them back out to the car.
Comments
earthenwood on Jun. 26, 2008 11:54 AM
Craptastic! T...
Ann Arbor Startup Weekend (SWA2) reminds me of a type of Alternate Reality Game. That's a structure that blurs the line between a game and normal life. Like an ...
Ann Arbor Startup Weekend (SWA2) reminds me of a type of Alternate Reality Game. That's a structure that blurs the line between a game and normal life. Like an Alternate Reality Game, SWA2 provides a tantalizing dramatic narrative (about you, starting a company), gradually revealed through a series of questions that stimulate your curiosity.
You will not be told the backstory, the explanation, why the organizers created the game. At the opening meeting of SWA2, there were many questions along t...
Those of you who enjoyed the Lojban translation of Jabberwocky may also enjoy I Am A Little Teapot Of Borg. That one is my own translation.
Comments
cathyr1935...
Those of you who enjoyed the Lojban translation of Jabberwocky may also enjoy I Am A Little Teapot Of Borg. That one is my own translation.
Comments
cathyr19355 on Jun. 20, 2008 3:40 AM
Something's wrong with the link to "I Am A Little Teapot of Borg".
matt-arnold on Jun. 20, 2008 11:32 AM
Fixed!
asked for Jabberwocky translated into Lojban and back into English. This is done by inventing gibberish words within the Lojban phonotactic and grammar rules, j...
asked for Jabberwocky translated into Lojban and back into English. This is done by inventing gibberish words within the Lojban phonotactic and grammar rules, just as Lewis Carroll did in the original. The problem with translating it back into English is that Jabberwocky is mostly not English to begin with. I'll do a partial retranslation.
The Lojban translation of Jabberwocky is by xorxes.
djaberuoki
.i ca lo musne lo salstova
cu curna carnu lo darnobe
.i racydri fa lo burgova
.i zdarnio radju ...
The system of naming computers after who gave them to me is breaking down, as I now have too many Jens and Steves.
Steve2 arrived by UPS yesterday, and floated ...
The system of naming computers after who gave them to me is breaking down, as I now have too many Jens and Steves.
Steve2 arrived by UPS yesterday, and floated in the door as if on magnetic waves, attracted relentlessly to its soulmate. When Steve2 entered the computer room, the CD duplicator rose from the pedestal whence I had been making sacrifices and obeisances to it for weeks. The two machines coiled and twined together in levetating midair dance. "I would never operate with any comput...
Ann Arbor Startup Weekend is next weekend, June 20 through 22. This looks interesting and might lead to opportunities. is going, and I'm going, and now is going...
Ann Arbor Startup Weekend is next weekend, June 20 through 22. This looks interesting and might lead to opportunities. is going, and I'm going, and now is going as well.
It's a loosely-structured gathering bringing together those who know software development, user experience, legal, public relations, design, business development, and project management to form teams that create actual startups by the end of the weekend. I have no idea what I'll do or contribute, but I intend to learn something....
My twelve years of training and experience are in graphic design, but I'm only taking graphic design clients I can be excited about. I'm turning down offers to ...
My twelve years of training and experience are in graphic design, but I'm only taking graphic design clients I can be excited about. I'm turning down offers to pay to make printed spam, with a new page on my site: "Why I Won't Design Your Ad".
It's not that I don't like graphic design itself. I enjoy operating graphics applications. But that's not enough. It's entirely dependent on what I'm asked to make.
In fact, I could say the same about any of my skills. I don't do any of them well...
The catalog project ended and today my temp job came to a close. Currently I'm only working for Escape Artists, but I'm open to additional work.
Comments
dbvan...
The catalog project ended and today my temp job came to a close. Currently I'm only working for Escape Artists, but I'm open to additional work.
Comments
dbvanhorn on Jun. 10, 2008 1:16 AM
What is "escape artists"? ( I assume you're not practicing with handcuffs and chains underwater.)
matt-arnold on Jun. 10, 2008 8:32 PM
You can learn more about that here.
brendand on Jun. 10, 2008 4:06 AM
Have any interest in preparing taxes? It's more a long-term solution, but it'd be something s...
Does anybody have a hard drive for a Toshiba Satellite M45 laptop you'd part with for cheap? It came with a Hitachi Travelstar hard drive.
Comments
muteid10t o...
Does anybody have a hard drive for a Toshiba Satellite M45 laptop you'd part with for cheap? It came with a Hitachi Travelstar hard drive.
Comments
muteid10t on Jun. 5, 2008 12:15 PM
I have a couple of "spare" laptop drives around my house somewhere that should be in good working condition.
Bring the laptop, the old drive, and anything else that you think might be needed to the Meeting on Sunday and I will hook you up.
The reason I want you to bring the old drive is that sometimes the...
Jen invited me along with her friends on a trip to Kentucky outside the Cincinnati area on Friday, to visit The Creation Museum on Saturday. This is that temple...
Jen invited me along with her friends on a trip to Kentucky outside the Cincinnati area on Friday, to visit The Creation Museum on Saturday. This is that temple to dishonesty which you may have heard of from Scalzi's epic work of comedy photojournalism, which I recommend you read. Scalzi needs no introduction to the readers of my blog. He was completely uninterested in the museum, but his readers demanded it, and were willing to pay. Scalzi was willing to undergo the torment on the condition tha...
I'm scheduling a get-together soon for those who want to work on making puppets, sets and props for the new marionette play "The Trouble With Death Traps&q...
I'm scheduling a get-together soon for those who want to work on making puppets, sets and props for the new marionette play "The Trouble With Death Traps", adapted from the short story by Marjorie James. The current invitee list includes me, Randle Ball, Allison Anderson, and Karen Corbeil. Let me know if you're interested in helping and learning interesting artistic techniques, so that I can try to arrange the session around your schedule.
Puppet builders will get the chance to look a...
I locked myself out of the car on Friday. Both my keys were on the keychain since I got a new wallet. The phone dispatcher wouldn't tell me what it would cost t...
I locked myself out of the car on Friday. Both my keys were on the keychain since I got a new wallet. The phone dispatcher wouldn't tell me what it would cost to unlock, or I would have gotten a ride and blogged to ask if anyone had lockpicking skills. The locksmith charged $123. That's almost half the cost of an Asus Eee ultra-mobile computer, my ultimate goal after paying off my last small debt and building an emergency fund. $123 is more than the cost of convention trips, classes, and other l...
I've been writing this for more than a year, and I think I should post it now.
For those who don't know, polyamory is responsible non-monogamy. It's open and ho...
I've been writing this for more than a year, and I think I should post it now.
For those who don't know, polyamory is responsible non-monogamy. It's open and honest multiple relationships.
I can't abide secrets and lies in intimate relationships. I only have experienced about a thimbleful of jealousy in my life, and I prefer to avoid having to put up with jealousy (although I take the good with the bad, so I'm not completely intolerant of it). I don't see monogamy as much of a safeguard against ...
Back from the trip to Wisconsin. I carpooled with Jen (, roughly translated from Lojban as "the committee of fools"). I met Jen at a Penguicon present...
Back from the trip to Wisconsin. I carpooled with Jen (, roughly translated from Lojban as "the committee of fools"). I met Jen at a Penguicon presentation I gave on Lojban two years ago, and ever since, she's been attending the local Lojban group that I host. Her car is a stick-shift, so this trip was reminiscent of my previous trip to Philcon with a friend named Bruce, who is also from the Lojban Michigan group and his car is also a stick shift. They both were patient teachers. They ...
Before the contemplative essay, some background. A friend has been talking about replacing my unreliable temp day job as a graphic designer, by hiring me on wit...
Before the contemplative essay, some background. A friend has been talking about replacing my unreliable temp day job as a graphic designer, by hiring me on with the I.T. small business that she's starting, as an administrative assistant. If this happens, it will be after she's moved out of state. So it will be another remote job performed over the internet. She really liked what I had to say about what I've learned from similar experiences. Apparently my hirability as a remote knowledge worker ...
The image on the left is cover art for Peter Watts' "Rifters" series about living in deep sea rifts. The image on the right is cover art for "The...
The image on the left is cover art for Peter Watts' "Rifters" series about living in deep sea rifts. The image on the right is cover art for "The Rifter", a softcover periodical concerning the Megaverse roleplaying game by Palladium Books, in which characters hop between dimensions of spacemen, wizards, cowboys, and super-heroes.
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Sweet lard and heavenly butter! Tor.com has just released the latest in their series of weekly free books, and it's a Peter Watts novel! And this is after they ...
Sweet lard and heavenly butter! Tor.com has just released the latest in their series of weekly free books, and it's a Peter Watts novel! And this is after they just released the Karl Schroeder novel Sun of Suns a couple of weeks ago.
Don't worry if you're not into intellectual science fiction. They put out a lot of free books that tickle various brain reward structures, so you're sure to get something you want. It's not always for me, it's not always for you, but it will dispense the distillatio...
posted a video of a Maypole. Penguicon managed to dodge all kinds of holidays for next year's weekend, but May 1 through 3 falls right smack dab on Beltaine, or...
posted a video of a Maypole. Penguicon managed to dodge all kinds of holidays for next year's weekend, but May 1 through 3 falls right smack dab on Beltaine, or so I'm told. So I asked the folks from ConVocation to create/preside/run/sanction/administer (or whatever the correct verb is) a Maypole in the parking lot or atrium or something. They are very happy to do so.
The video is enlightening. I thought they were supposed to skip merrily around the pole while strewing flowers, or something. Spa...
I was all packed to move to Novi tonight, but Bahb called today to tell me they've decided not to get another roommate. Keep an eye out for opportunities for me...
I was all packed to move to Novi tonight, but Bahb called today to tell me they've decided not to get another roommate. Keep an eye out for opportunities for me. I'm not going to unpack any more than I need to.
Comments
fromrain2smiles on May. 12, 2008 10:21 PM
awww I'm sorry, keep looking
li885 on May. 12, 2008 10:26 PM
I'm sorry things didn't work out for you. I'll keep an eye out.
dragonsmith0 on May. 12, 2008 11:20 PM
That is horrible. Something you could have been told YESTERDAY!!! Will ...
The Command Line Podcast has an episode featuring a recording that cmdln did of himself and Vernor Vinge on the panel, "Secure Hardware Environments"....
The Command Line Podcast has an episode featuring a recording that cmdln did of himself and Vernor Vinge on the panel, "Secure Hardware Environments".
Comments
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Exercise should be a game. Right now, from a game perspective, the repetitive motions are just like level-grinding. The genius of Dance Dance Revolution is that...
Exercise should be a game. Right now, from a game perspective, the repetitive motions are just like level-grinding. The genius of Dance Dance Revolution is that it takes the boredom out of exercise. To expand on this, a game should use all four limbs and not just jumping around. Something different from a rythm game, though. I'm thinking of a fighting game. A couple of hacked Wiimotes, one in each hand, could be detected in eight positions around a circle. The player stands on a dance pad, to co...
Unless something unexpected happens, I think this plan is firm enough to announce. Last night I visited Mike, Karen, and Bahb Son Of Bob (). It looks like I can...
Unless something unexpected happens, I think this plan is firm enough to announce. Last night I visited Mike, Karen, and Bahb Son Of Bob (). It looks like I can move in to their town-house-like thing in Novi. This will take place some time after Mike ships out to the Middle East this weekend.
There is broadband there, so my remote work will be un-interrupted save only for the time it takes to pack and unpack. They have a machine that washes your dishes for you. This apartment complex also has no...
Is anyone coming to tomorrow's Penguicon handoff meeting who would bring a Firewire cable to loan to me? Also I could use some thermal paste and a spare PC powe...
Is anyone coming to tomorrow's Penguicon handoff meeting who would bring a Firewire cable to loan to me? Also I could use some thermal paste and a spare PC power supply. I'll be back up and running and have my data restored in no time.
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Finally I get to read "Sun of Suns" by Karl Schroeder. The publisher, Tor Books, is making it available for free as PDF, html, or Mobipocket formats! ...
Finally I get to read "Sun of Suns" by Karl Schroeder. The publisher, Tor Books, is making it available for free as PDF, html, or Mobipocket formats! Well, I shouldn't say I'm "reading" it. I can't wait to free up some free time for reading, so I put it into Readthewords.com and synced it to my audio device. So I've been listening to a computer read it.
Karl Schroeder likes to present very accessible swashbuckling adventures, but that is a clever disguise. When you get beneat...
7 PM until late at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti (720 Norris St), there's a release party for version 8 (codename "Hardy Heron") of Ubuntu Linux!
Fo...
7 PM until late at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti (720 Norris St), there's a release party for version 8 (codename "Hardy Heron") of Ubuntu Linux!
For those who email me to say they don't have the context to know what I'm talking about on this LJ half the time: Ubuntu Linux is basically a free alternative to Microsoft's Windows, Explorer, and Office. It works great and it's really easy. You should try it.
With any luck they'll be handing it out on CD for free tonight so you can beat t...
Many of you have been asking if signs and portents pointed to a pre-Penguicon power struggle of some kind among the convention organizers. To lay it to rest, th...
Many of you have been asking if signs and portents pointed to a pre-Penguicon power struggle of some kind among the convention organizers. To lay it to rest, there absolutely was not. That was a misinterpretation of the signs and portents.
Outsiders flocked to become insiders, with fresh ideas, change, evolution, and we welcomed them to our parties and barbecues. The Penguicon 2009 Concom is a well-oiled machine, composed of those from Penguicon who have been reaching unprecedented levels of fri...
This year's Penguicon included the fulfillment of several of my long-standing ambitions. There is so much more ground to cover in each of these ambitions, but m...
This year's Penguicon included the fulfillment of several of my long-standing ambitions. There is so much more ground to cover in each of these ambitions, but momentum is well and truly rolling now.
One of these is organized puppetry, which I haven't done since childhood. We did a rollicking performance of a marionette adaptation of "A Shoggoth On The Roof". Over the past year I, Jer, and Allison, have become good friends with Naia, Andy, and "He-Of-The-Daily-Changing-Name". ...
This is to hand out this weekend, to make sure that anyone who might help or present at Penguicon 7.0 in 2009 knows how to get in touch with me and has a physic...
This is to hand out this weekend, to make sure that anyone who might help or present at Penguicon 7.0 in 2009 knows how to get in touch with me and has a physical reminder to do so. Only $10 for 250.
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Edited to add: In order to keep clear in my head which computers you're offering advice about, it's probably a good idea for me to label the references below to...
Edited to add: In order to keep clear in my head which computers you're offering advice about, it's probably a good idea for me to label the references below to indicate the four computers.
Now in addition to my Linux computer (A), the one that is running Windows (B) is not working either. That leaves only the old graphite G4 Mac (C).
The Windows computer (an Athlon XP 1700+) (B) gets to the "Press DEL to enter SETUP" phase of bootup, and freezes there.
I cleaned the dust from the heat...
I'll be away from the internet until 6PM today and tomorrow. So if you find yourself composing an email to me during that time, I welcome you to call me instead...
I'll be away from the internet until 6PM today and tomorrow. So if you find yourself composing an email to me during that time, I welcome you to call me instead: 248-787-7436.
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Hello, my old acquaintance. You're late this year! You usually arrive in March and don't leave until the program book has gone to the printer. Arriving after it...
Hello, my old acquaintance. You're late this year! You usually arrive in March and don't leave until the program book has gone to the printer. Arriving after it has gone to the printer is a new trick.
But you need new tricks, don't you? I'm gaining mastery. Well, I'm banishing you now. Arrivaderci, Annual Pre-Penguicon Stress.
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users on Apr. 15, 2008 12:25 AM
Way to banish it.. I FOUND IT! :P
pheltzer on Apr. 15, 2008 12:37 AM
I do have in my arsenal... tools that will completely oblit...
I'm looking for someone responsible and trusted within Michigan's fandom community to pick up Vernor Vinge from Detroit Metro airport at 4:10 PM on Thursday and...
I'm looking for someone responsible and trusted within Michigan's fandom community to pick up Vernor Vinge from Detroit Metro airport at 4:10 PM on Thursday and bring him to the Troy Hilton. I'm Mr. Vinge's before-the-convention liaison, and
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Is anybody willing to fill out my taxes for me? Maybe you could consider it a service to Penguicon or something? I have four or five different W2s. I am much to...
Is anybody willing to fill out my taxes for me? Maybe you could consider it a service to Penguicon or something? I have four or five different W2s. I am much too busy for this.
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zifferent on Apr. 13, 2008 2:45 PM
If you're certain that you won't have to owe taxes, i.e. you're getting money back then you don't have to meet the April deadline.
And there are several online tax places that will help you do your taxes for free. TaxAct.com comes to mind.
tlatoani on Apr. 13, 2008 2:51 PM
If ...
I admit it. I've had bad experiences with roleplaying games. Ken Burnside of Ad Astra Games once told me that the essence of roleplaying's appeal is the opportu...
I admit it. I've had bad experiences with roleplaying games. Ken Burnside of Ad Astra Games once told me that the essence of roleplaying's appeal is the opportunity to be a hero of epic proportions, whose actions can change the world. But confronted with such an open-ended challenge, I fail to think of solutions to my character's problems. I always think of better solutions later, when it's too late. Epic world-saving is not a winnable scenario for me in realtime. I fail and fail and fail, which...
I'm using only my Windows and Mac computers because my Ubuntu Linux box has some kind of problem: when I turn on the power supply switch, the fans spin up, then...
I'm using only my Windows and Mac computers because my Ubuntu Linux box has some kind of problem: when I turn on the power supply switch, the fans spin up, then spin down, then spin up, etc. The monitor displays nothing. I don't know what's broken.
It's my best and most-used computer. If I haul it along to the signage party on Friday, would there be time for anyone to take a look at it?
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crywolf on Apr. 11, 2008 2:12 AM
If you bring it to the Computer Lounge whenever, there's a good cha...
It could hardly be summarized with more concision. Alternating between armchair quarterbacking on the one hand, and neglect and abdication on the other, is not ...
It could hardly be summarized with more concision. Alternating between armchair quarterbacking on the one hand, and neglect and abdication on the other, is not a "different but equally valid organizational style".
To those of you who will be on the Penguicon concom for 2009: If Rob Landley emails any of you in the next twelve months to tell you what a crappy job you're doing, and that he can do it better from out of state, without actually having to lift his pinky finger the way you an...
Every apartment at which R has looked expects a one-year lease. She's not even sure she'll be in Michigan that long. The deadline for her move has become more o...
Every apartment at which R has looked expects a one-year lease. She's not even sure she'll be in Michigan that long. The deadline for her move has become more open-ended every day, despite my disapproval. I'm blogging this here because it results in two problems for me.
Reason number one is that we've ceased our relationship and are moving on, which means silence. I can't stand for there to be a difference in the two types of closeness, geographic and emotional. Just as long distance relationshi...
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rbradakis on Apr. 8, 2008 1:26 PM
And also I'm really glad that I changed the weekend for Penguicon 2007 to May 1 through 3...
Should that be 2009? We...
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rbradakis on Apr. 8, 2008 1:26 PM
And also I'm really glad that I changed the weekend for Penguicon 2007 to May 1 through 3...
Should that be 2009? We were just talking about this on Sunday, trying to intelligently discuss future plans.
matt-arnold on Apr. 9, 2008 3:41 AM
Yes, it's a typo.
rbradakis on Apr. 9, 2008 1:42 PM
Good. I couldn't imagine how I'd failed to notice the historical shift in my own time-line. That eases my mind somewhat. In multi-universe theories, that would imp...
My roommate in freshman year of college was a chap named Keith Kelley. He was nominated for Student Body President. At Pensacola Christian College, this was a m...
My roommate in freshman year of college was a chap named Keith Kelley. He was nominated for Student Body President. At Pensacola Christian College, this was a meaningless position of a functionally meaningless organization, since students were explicitly disallowed -- on pain of expulsion-- from taking an organized position in opposition to that of the administration.
Well, Keith didn't know what to say in the single campaign speech that each candidate was allowed. As an empty popularity contest...
In the same spirit as my last post, here is a game review of real life.
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drew4096 on Apr. 4, 2008 5:45 PM — Difficult to access game zones
I've heard r...
In the same spirit as my last post, here is a game review of real life.
Comments
drew4096 on Apr. 4, 2008 5:45 PM — Difficult to access game zones
I've heard rumors of a very few players of Outside finding parts of the game universe where the gravity
is about 1/6 that of where most of the players are.
le-bebna-kamni on Apr. 8, 2008 8:06 PM — Re: Difficult to access game zones
Yes, but the ability to access those zones is primarily restricted to those who have accumulated enough money to purcha...
The way my mind works, I do a better job when I find a way to do it in the form of a game. It is a distinct switch of mindset. In that frame of mind, I have bee...
The way my mind works, I do a better job when I find a way to do it in the form of a game. It is a distinct switch of mindset. In that frame of mind, I have been looking at my hypnotically repetitive day job and thinking, "There's the seed of a puzzle game here, but the task I have been set bears many game-design flaws." And yet, I know what it's like to do work that is as addictive as a game. I've realized that you don't have to be making any money to be a workaholic! Penguicon has be...
I don't exhibit One True Wayism. I just don't have All True Wayism. I have the ability to say that, out of all the myriad Right Ways, the number of Wrong And Ba...
I don't exhibit One True Wayism. I just don't have All True Wayism. I have the ability to say that, out of all the myriad Right Ways, the number of Wrong And Bad Ways is merely higher than zero. In other words the number of situations where the truth lies quite far from the middle, is merely higher than zero.
I think where I differ from many in our circles, is that friendship with someone who tends toward a Wrong Way does not create an intense emotional discomfort of the recognition that their p...
The Escape Pod inbox is full of stars, that is. Penguicon 7.0 in 2009 has now confirmed the attendance of two famous and very excited guests of honor. You'll ha...
The Escape Pod inbox is full of stars, that is. Penguicon 7.0 in 2009 has now confirmed the attendance of two famous and very excited guests of honor. You'll have to wait until Closing Ceremonies of this year's convention to find out who.
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The magical elves that inhabit the wiring of my car's ignition have decided today that I have appeased them.
According to the landlady, the ceiling elves were s...
The magical elves that inhabit the wiring of my car's ignition have decided today that I have appeased them.
According to the landlady, the ceiling elves were supposed to visit today, but if they did, they left no sign.
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temujin9 on Mar. 20, 2008 9:01 AM
If the ceiling elves fail to appear, you can attract them by placing your rent in an escrow account, rather than the landlord's mailbox (where the elves expect it to be). Be sure to get the incantation correct; it sometimes summons evic...
If it's not one thing it's another. I had to leave my car at work because once again it wouldn't start, and just this minute, the ceiling of the kitchen collaps...
If it's not one thing it's another. I had to leave my car at work because once again it wouldn't start, and just this minute, the ceiling of the kitchen collapsed! The entire floor is ankle-deep in insulation.
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I almost had it half-shoveled when I remembered that thanks to , I now have a camera.
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Is anybody going to Wiscon who can offer me a ride and room share? We can split the costs. There will be an Escape Artists business meeting I want to attend. It...
Is anybody going to Wiscon who can offer me a ride and room share? We can split the costs. There will be an Escape Artists business meeting I want to attend. It will be in Madison, Wisconsin on May 23-26, 2008, the same weekend as Marcon.
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the-leewit on Mar. 19, 2008 6:13 AM
I think user polyfrog will be attending. No ride, but may have a room to share, and a pretty nice guy.
netmouse on Mar. 28, 2008 5:40 PM
let me know if you still haven't found a roomshare. I might be able to hook y...
It is with great pride and excitement that I announce my new position with Escape Artists, Inc., creator of Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Podcastle short-form genr...
It is with great pride and excitement that I announce my new position with Escape Artists, Inc., creator of Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Podcastle short-form genre fiction podcasts! From now on, when you need to work with editor at escapepod dot org, I'll direct your message or question where it needs to go, and expedite the response. I'll organize information, such as volunteers for narration and audio editing, into centralized spreadsheets and databases.
Never fear: Steve Eley will be no less co...
R is apartment-shopping, is seeing other guys, and has encouraged me to see other women. As you know, this is not the first time this has happened in the thirte...
R is apartment-shopping, is seeing other guys, and has encouraged me to see other women. As you know, this is not the first time this has happened in the thirteen years we've been together, on and off. It's just as amicable as the other times when she and I have divorced or stopped our relationship in various ways.
It was neither sudden nor dramatic. I'll spare you further details, but feel absolutely free to ask me and I will answer fully and at great length.
Currently my concerns are logistica...
Wow. I asked for signatories, and got testimonials! I'm blown away. It's times like this that affirm for me, if I had needed it, that I have spent my effort bec...
Wow. I asked for signatories, and got testimonials! I'm blown away. It's times like this that affirm for me, if I had needed it, that I have spent my effort becoming rich after all. The phrase is a cliche, but it works so well. I'm rich in friends.
I know what some of you are thinking: I can't possibly take on any more responsibilities. But working for Escape Artists Inc. is the right move for me, both in vision and pragmatism. This isn't a hobby, it's paying work. I need extra income, and this ...
I need your help. The Escape Pod Science Fiction Podcast seeks a remote assistant, and that should be me.
This job hardly pays any less than my hit-and-miss tem...
I need your help. The Escape Pod Science Fiction Podcast seeks a remote assistant, and that should be me.
This job hardly pays any less than my hit-and-miss temp work. This is work that is meaningful enough to me to make me passionately driven. It is where I want to be, and it will clearly lead to more places that I want to be.
I need co-signers to vouch for me as a clear communicator, proofreader, and organizer who is consistently available for communication, and who will be driven like a man p...
"...he's not smarter than you, Hari. Very few people are ... He just ...He goes for what he wants, y'know? ... He's always shaving the odds, always taking ...
"...he's not smarter than you, Hari. Very few people are ... He just ...He goes for what he wants, y'know? ... He's always shaving the odds, always taking another baby step toward where he wants to go, even when he doesn't know how it'll all pull together in the end ... When you do that long enough, hard enough, things fall into place and ... and you look like a genius, when you never really planned anything..."
- page 335, Heroes Die, by Matthew Woodring Stover
Habit #1: Begin with ...
I need to understand web server software administration better. I've just been using a handy web interface called "cpanel" with which to manage my web...
I need to understand web server software administration better. I've just been using a handy web interface called "cpanel" with which to manage my web space. It has a bit called Fantastico which will install and uninstall a piece of web server software with the click of a mouse. It's how I installed Drupal, and now the new Wordpress on my site. But Fantastico only works for web software on its list.
Needless to say, anything that I program in Python using the Django web development fra...
Hello once again from the lunchroom notepad. It's a good day. My work is sufficiently repetitive that now that I'm used to it, I can listen to podcasts while I ...
Hello once again from the lunchroom notepad. It's a good day. My work is sufficiently repetitive that now that I'm used to it, I can listen to podcasts while I work and suffer no performance difference. If this keeps up, the job will be considerably better than I expected.
It's like the mouse-clicking version of a factory assembly line. The catalog's text, pictures and prices are handled by other people through spreadsheets and inserted automatically through a proprietary markup language. I only...
Originally handwritten during my lunch break, proving that I can't stop blogging, even in a place with no internet access.
"Unemployed is self-employed.&qu...
Originally handwritten during my lunch break, proving that I can't stop blogging, even in a place with no internet access.
"Unemployed is self-employed."
One problem with this quote is revealed by attaching "Because you are not supporting yourself financially" to the start of every piece of self-employment advice you get from entrepreneur blogs. For example:
"Because you are not supporting yourself financially"
"Save up six months' income."
Two separate ch...
We'll have at least two SMOS Dinners between now and Penguicon. Allison Anderson will host at her home in New Baltimore on Friday, March 14. Limey Zernich will ...
We'll have at least two SMOS Dinners between now and Penguicon. Allison Anderson will host at her home in New Baltimore on Friday, March 14. Limey Zernich will host at his home downriver on Friday, March 28, where we will test out Penguicon's new Chaos Machine. Both will be at 7 PM. Email me at my gmail account, matt dot mattarn, for directions.
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bardicwench on Mar. 4, 2008 3:59 PM
Matt... what's the last "s" in smos stand for? We used to call these SMOP dinners at one point, ...
Garrett asked me to post this:
Great news for Geeks with Guns! We've filled all of the available slots. Just another advantage of preregistration.
The arrangem...
Garrett asked me to post this:
Great news for Geeks with Guns! We've filled all of the available slots. Just another advantage of preregistration.
The arrangements with the range have been finalized. We'll be shooting at Firing Line Indoor Gun Range and Gun Shop. This is the same place we have enjoyed great service in years past. Everybody going will need to fill out the following
href="http://firinglineguns.com/pdfs/RegistrationApplication.pdf">Range Application to shoot at the ra...
I'm being careful how I dress today for promoting Penguicon at MPCon. It's the wrong crowd for the metrosexual look. It is time for the t-shirt reading "on...
I'm being careful how I dress today for promoting Penguicon at MPCon. It's the wrong crowd for the metrosexual look. It is time for the t-shirt reading "one by one, the Penguins steal my sanity" in a distressed font.
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celticavatar on Mar. 1, 2008 2:20 PM — hehe
Your good man with the work you are putting into Penguicon.
stormgren on Mar. 1, 2008 2:47 PM
See you there!
I look forward to the LN2 frozen goodness.
rbradakis on Mar. 1, 2008 2:51 PM
I love that shirt.
ellalthea o...
My agency called with news about the company that was supposed to start me one month ago. The company has been promised that the computer I will use will arrive...
My agency called with news about the company that was supposed to start me one month ago. The company has been promised that the computer I will use will arrive first thing Monday morning. They said that they want me to come in and get paid, and if the computer still fails to materialize, they'll have me sit next to someone else and watch. So there will be some income to keep me afloat for a while.
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uplinktruck on Mar. 1, 2008 8:15 PM
Woot! good to hear it finally came though.
treebone...
"The Authentic Career: Following the Path of Self-Discovery to Professional Fulfillment" by Maggie Craddock has some good insights for emotional disco...
"The Authentic Career: Following the Path of Self-Discovery to Professional Fulfillment" by Maggie Craddock has some good insights for emotional discovery. But it's obviously for a reader who pursued and attained career/wealth, and does whatever his or her parents wanted them to do to get prestige in the eyes of society but not his/herself. Ha! Obviously not me, except in Opposite World.
With or without the help of books, I have thought about this issue non-stop. My skills and experien...
After playtesting my new game with many of my friends, all of whom have enjoyed it, it's clear that I'm onto something here. Now I seek a publisher.
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After playtesting my new game with many of my friends, all of whom have enjoyed it, it's clear that I'm onto something here. Now I seek a publisher.
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A significant part of job-hunting will involve a decent web presence. Almost a year ago, I moved my personal website onto Drupal in order to get more knowledge ...
A significant part of job-hunting will involve a decent web presence. Almost a year ago, I moved my personal website onto Drupal in order to get more knowledge of that content management system. I played around with it and experimented with various features to push the limits of what could be done in Drupal without learning PHP.
Well, when you do several dozen things just to find out whether or not it's possible, the visual result you get is not necessarily in line with attractive design and usa...
There is still no computer on the desk at the place where I was supposed to start a temp assignment almost two weeks ago. They keep postponing it until they can...
There is still no computer on the desk at the place where I was supposed to start a temp assignment almost two weeks ago. They keep postponing it until they can get their IT department into gear. So for now, no work, and no $12.50. Maybe next week. In the meantime, if anybody wants to do lunch or hang out, I'm totally free.
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rbradakis on Feb. 21, 2008 11:42 PM
Oh that's a drag. As an employee, at least you'd be sitting there at that empty desk, motivating someone to get the IT departmen...
I've been a bystander to some interesting conversations between Concom members about Nifty Guests at Penguicon. I've been watching the process of Nifty selectio...
I've been a bystander to some interesting conversations between Concom members about Nifty Guests at Penguicon. I've been watching the process of Nifty selection up-close-and-personal under four consecutive Conchairs. It has never been organized and usually nobody has the slightest clue what Nifty even means. Every year we made our share of mistakes in who we gave the status to. But I've listened to a lot of philosophies expressed about it over the years, and condensed what I thought were the mo...
David Wong writes horror novels. I knew him as the guy who gave us such introspective, insight/humor articles as The Monkeysphere, 7 Reasons The 21st Century Is...
David Wong writes horror novels. I knew him as the guy who gave us such introspective, insight/humor articles as The Monkeysphere, 7 Reasons The 21st Century Is Making Us Miserable, The God Fuse: 10 Things Christians and Atheists can (and must) Agree On, A World Of Warcraft World, Why Online Gaming Will Change The Future... the list goes on and on. Yeah, the same guy wrote all that stuff. It's from his old website pointlesswasteoftime.com and Cracked.com.
John Dies At The End and its sequel are ...
This morning I interviewed for a temp position that is to last several months, at J & L Industrial Supply in Southfield. I got the job and start within one ...
This morning I interviewed for a temp position that is to last several months, at J & L Industrial Supply in Southfield. I got the job and start within one to two weeks. I'll be making $12.50 an hour, but it solves the bills problem, and least it's more usability-related than marketing. :)
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zifferent on Feb. 5, 2008 7:39 PM
Congratulations. Again. Sort of.
overthesun on Feb. 5, 2008 8:04 PM
Likely it's better than freezing, and starving, with no bandwidth. . . .So congrats!
twoofd...
The motto of Menlo Innovations is "Ending human suffering as it relates to technology." I admire that.
A machine that becomes like an extension of you...
The motto of Menlo Innovations is "Ending human suffering as it relates to technology." I admire that.
A machine that becomes like an extension of your fingers is a thing of beauty. Some software makes you feel like you have palsy. Ever get that feeling? That's probably because the person who paid for it is somewhere higher than you in the company and will never have to use it, so they don't even know it's difficult to use. But I love finding a new piece of really usable software. I do...
Many of you have offered to have a discussion with me. I'll take each of you up on it.
First, a brief refresher course on things I've said in years and months p...
Many of you have offered to have a discussion with me. I'll take each of you up on it.
First, a brief refresher course on things I've said in years and months past but it's understandable that many of you missed those blog posts.
Going into business for myself as a graphic design freelancer is not my ambition. The only reason I've been considering accepting it when MetaSpring approached me about it, is that I have no other source of income, job hunting has not been successful, and the bills are ...
Free work that I do has to be for a not-for-profit (which I do frequently, but right now there's no point in the brochure being for a convention, because I have...
Free work that I do has to be for a not-for-profit (which I do frequently, but right now there's no point in the brochure being for a convention, because I have to prove I can design things for boring, grown-up businesses), or for a made-up company. Imagine that I don't pay my landlord and my creditor, and I have to live off of Rachel like a deadbeat, because I gave somebody else a financial profit and I didn't ask for part of it. Is that right to do?
One side of it is, needing portfolio pieces ...
I'm in Ann Arbor and my meeting at MetaSpring is over, so I'm doing a quick blog post before going to gaming at Clark Rodeffer's.
The business partners I met at...
I'm in Ann Arbor and my meeting at MetaSpring is over, so I'm doing a quick blog post before going to gaming at Clark Rodeffer's.
The business partners I met at MetaSpring with are about ten years younger than me. They said my portfolio was weak, and gave me some samples of stuff they've done to show what they're looking for. Frankly, I think the stuff they showed me is weak. I'd have a sample if I ever had a client wealthy enough to spring for brochures, or direct mailers, or billboards ... or ...
So a friend of mine says I should go to an engineering job fair and apply for a job as a Systems Engineer. He says they don't need a college degree. I was skept...
So a friend of mine says I should go to an engineering job fair and apply for a job as a Systems Engineer. He says they don't need a college degree. I was skeptical and asked for more information, and he sent me this document from hell, which uses a thousand words to say nothing. From the description of "systems", the world, and every person and thing in it could qualify as something that a Systems Engineer is supposed to fix. Reading this, anyone would think you spin a roulette wheel ...
I have edited the Wikipedia entry about the man who coined the term "graphic design," William Addison Dwiggins, to include a paragraph about his magni...
I have edited the Wikipedia entry about the man who coined the term "graphic design," William Addison Dwiggins, to include a paragraph about his magnificent accomplishments in puppetry. The absence of this information was a terrible oversight, which has now been set right.
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drkelso on Feb. 2, 2008 1:53 AM
good catch....lol
Today was my appointment to take the Factory Tour at Menlo Innovations. When I arrived, the tour group introduced ourselves briefly. There were other software d...
Today was my appointment to take the Factory Tour at Menlo Innovations. When I arrived, the tour group introduced ourselves briefly. There were other software development companies there, and then there was me. I said I did graphic design for print and the web. They looked a little confused, and thought Print And The Web might be the name of my company. I said I was also with Penguicon, a software convention in Troy. I said that I had read about High Tech Anthropology and was completely fascinat...
I have a temp assignment today, and possibly tomorrow, filling in for a sick prepress operator for the same ad agency that had me do this back in the summer. Th...
I have a temp assignment today, and possibly tomorrow, filling in for a sick prepress operator for the same ad agency that had me do this back in the summer. They called the creative agency and asked for me. So hooray. I'm on lunch break. Back to work now.
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I'd like all of you to at least skim this, even if your past experiences with me suggest you aren't going to agree with it. I think on this one, you just might....
I'd like all of you to at least skim this, even if your past experiences with me suggest you aren't going to agree with it. I think on this one, you just might.
This holiday season I heard "don't lose sight" a lot. An interesting phrase. I've been mulling it over for a month. It's common in discussions of values. I think that a lot of talk of "theism" and "atheism" is a blind alley. I am an atheist, no doubt about it. But I just don't think the nonexistence of the s...
What anti-abortion demonstrators said when asked what the punishment should be for women who got abortions if abortion became illegal.
I swear, the first person...
What anti-abortion demonstrators said when asked what the punishment should be for women who got abortions if abortion became illegal.
I swear, the first person in the comment thread to mention that Bill Higgins and Brother Guy Consolmagno are "people of faith" and "best buds 4 evar with the G.O.D." will be sighed at with a withering glare.
Comments
zifferent on Jan. 24, 2008 2:38 PM
Interesting, it seems the video has tapped into the soft squishy underbelly of American Chri...
"You should wear a badge ribbon reading 'DRIVEN TO AN UNHOLY DEGREE', because you are" - Jeremy from Grand Rapids
"I was in a conversation yeste...
"You should wear a badge ribbon reading 'DRIVEN TO AN UNHOLY DEGREE', because you are" - Jeremy from Grand Rapids
"I was in a conversation yesterday in which we were mentioning how you look like Daniel Jackson"
"SWEET I'm being compared to a xenolinguist. Movie Stargate or TV Stargate?"
"The TV one, Michael Shanks"
"I can talk as fast as him if I get enough caffeine"
"I'd like to give you this as our thanks for making a great program book ...
Any sufficiently advanced program book creator is indistinguishable from Conchair.
Now granted, I have never yet witnessed this level of advancement-- to my kno...
Any sufficiently advanced program book creator is indistinguishable from Conchair.
Now granted, I have never yet witnessed this level of advancement-- to my knowledge, it has never taken place. But I became head of programming of Penguicon for no other reason than to solve problems I had when making the program book. Then the program book person couldn't really do it that year. I tried becoming Minister of Communication for 2008 so that I could take charge of the entire chain. But the conchair w...
It hasn't been a banner week. As I drove home, the temp agency called to say today was my last day at my temp job. They said I worked fast but lacked accuracy.
...
It hasn't been a banner week. As I drove home, the temp agency called to say today was my last day at my temp job. They said I worked fast but lacked accuracy.
I guess I could look on the bright side.
1. I hope it will remove office pressures from my friendship with my coworker.
2. I probably no longer have to figure out the puzzles, obstacles, and vague responsibilities associated with doing that type of work, or how to un-demoralize myself about them.
3. It probably frees up time to hunker dow...
I recently read an interesting multi-page essay on the web about stress in the workplace. The author said that stress activates parts of the brain that cause an...
I recently read an interesting multi-page essay on the web about stress in the workplace. The author said that stress activates parts of the brain that cause an intense narrow focus on hammering out tasks. But stress switches off the part of the brain that looks at the big picture with initiative, the part that makes creative associative intuitive leaps and strategic planning, that are necessary for quality computer programming. He also said workplaces tend to unconsciously bring everyone to the...
I'm not sure what to do now. In May, asked me to work on the program book for ConFusion, and for reasons that I don't remember, I said yes. Now I have a front-r...
I'm not sure what to do now. In May, asked me to work on the program book for ConFusion, and for reasons that I don't remember, I said yes. Now I have a front-row seat as the program book crashes and burns. The page layout is being produced by the Artist Guest of Honor, Carl Lundgren, not by me. I was very glad he took it off my hands, because by that time, when I was reminded that I had said I would do it, I experienced a brief period of denial, bargaining, and anger. I realized I had accepted,...
I want to be a good citizen. I also don't want to be taken advantage of in the service of foolish and harmful causes. It's pretty overwhelming to figure out how...
I want to be a good citizen. I also don't want to be taken advantage of in the service of foolish and harmful causes. It's pretty overwhelming to figure out how to get both of those, but I've been posting on this blog from time to time to work through it. This post will illustrate where I think the problem lies, and one out of several solutions that might mitigate it. Don't think this is a post of pessimism or despair; if that were the case, I wouldn't bother posting this. I think it's solvable ...
Dresden Codak presents "Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day".
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Jan. 4, 2008 6:22 PM
Awesome. But you might want to post a lin...
Dresden Codak presents "Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day".
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Jan. 4, 2008 6:22 PM
Awesome. But you might want to post a link to the explanation (I seem to remember this being posted on the Stilyagi list -- was that you?). The video gets more hilarious when you know the "rules".
le-bebna-kamni on Jan. 4, 2008 6:22 PM
Not the video, the "Time Traveller for a Day" concept. :)
An inner dialogue, a play in one act. Dramatis Personae: Part of me, and another part of me. A strictly realistic representation of how the mind operates is not...
An inner dialogue, a play in one act. Dramatis Personae: Part of me, and another part of me. A strictly realistic representation of how the mind operates is not necessarily intended. Details have been redacted to protect the privacy of those who wish privacy.
Agent, wake up. Wake the whole brain up.
What? Hello?
You're my agent, you have to take my calls. Wake up. I hereby call a meeting of the Congress of Complexes.
Ugh. Client? What time is it? Unholy o'clock in the morning?
I am in my element...
Part two of 2007 in review is projects.
I simply stopped contributing to the Sci Phi Show podcast. I'm not trying to be hostile by saying this, but the plain fa...
Part two of 2007 in review is projects.
I simply stopped contributing to the Sci Phi Show podcast. I'm not trying to be hostile by saying this, but the plain fact is it was excruciating to have to listen to any part of the show that I wasn't involved in. I had looked to the model of Abbott and Costello, who produced something successful even though they disliked each other off stage. And yet, Abbott and Costello must have liked the product they made together. The lesson I learned is that there's...
me: I was happy with what I got for Christmas from my parents and Rachel.
a rare book for instance, that I've wanted for twelve years or so
: which one?
me: &qu...
me: I was happy with what I got for Christmas from my parents and Rachel.
a rare book for instance, that I've wanted for twelve years or so
: which one?
me: "The Dwiggins Marionettes: A Complete Experimental Theatre in Miniature" by Dorothy Abbe
infowidget: nifty. Sounds very interesting.
me: a gigantic and gorgeous book produced in a small print.*
check this out http://giam.typepad.com/100_years_of_illustration/2007/09/the-dwiggins-ma.html
infowidget: wow. Do you puppeteer at all?
me:...
Part one of the annual wrap-up concerns career and finances.
I was under-employed for most of 2007. The experience of going stir-crazy is best expressed by Clim...
Part one of the annual wrap-up concerns career and finances.
I was under-employed for most of 2007. The experience of going stir-crazy is best expressed by Climbing The Walls from the latest album by They Might Be Giants. (Besides, it's a very fun and listenable song.)
Too much junk, too much junk
_
Can we please clear out this house?
In the trunk, in the trunk
And then we'll take it all to the dump
Then we won't need the car
'Cause we'll stay where we are
And I'll have all this room
The deep en...
OK, so Hannukah isn't the Jewish Christmas.
What about calling Christmas the Christian Hannukah?
What about calling them both the white Kwanzah?
What about call...
OK, so Hannukah isn't the Jewish Christmas.
What about calling Christmas the Christian Hannukah?
What about calling them both the white Kwanzah?
What about calling all three of those the non-pagan Yule?
Well of course none of these are the category into which the others fit. None of them are the prototype of which others are derivations. However, all of them are that group's version of the vacation and marketing season. From that point of view, they're all independently versions of each other, w...
So today I'm doing my twice-annual side job, operating a camera for holiday services. The pastor asks the children in the congregation to name some things that ...
So today I'm doing my twice-annual side job, operating a camera for holiday services. The pastor asks the children in the congregation to name some things that people can enjoy at Christmas. The first kid says "Hanukkah!"
Comments
uplinktruck on Dec. 24, 2007 7:03 PM
Now that is funny. Have a good Christmas.
thefile on Dec. 24, 2007 7:58 PM
From a Jewish perspective, not so funny. Ignorance abounds.
I had a boss in the Navy that asked me "Hanukkah is the Jewish way of celebratin...
Robotics advancement has accelerated vastly this decade, in Japanese research and development, and the DARPA Grand Challenge. Today I listened to an episode of ...
Robotics advancement has accelerated vastly this decade, in Japanese research and development, and the DARPA Grand Challenge. Today I listened to an episode of the Brain Science Podcast concerning Embodied Intelligence and got thinking about how interesting it would be to put it to a real test.
If I had a hundred million dollars I might spend it on a research program not based on a specific application, but on a basic platform for applications of embodied intelligence. The goal would be a small-...
If you want to get up in the morning and feel like you get to spend at least part of your time on something that matters, you could do a whole lot worse.
more
If you want to get up in the morning and feel like you get to spend at least part of your time on something that matters, you could do a whole lot worse.
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Satoshi Kon makes character-driven animated films with exceptionally fine artwork. Both his stories and the quality of drawing in his films are mature and rewar...
Satoshi Kon makes character-driven animated films with exceptionally fine artwork. Both his stories and the quality of drawing in his films are mature and reward examination. (Be aware that Satoshi Kon films would alternately bore and scandalize children. This is why it can only succeed in Japan, where animation is made for a variety of ages.) Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and my favorite work of animation of all time, the science fiction segment Magnetic Rose from the anthology Memories....
I have been scheduling meetings and get-togethers for years. My status as organizer has reached the point that I am involved with that process every few days, u...
I have been scheduling meetings and get-togethers for years. My status as organizer has reached the point that I am involved with that process every few days, usually with those who are not familiar with problems that I've seen arise hundreds of times. Do it often enough, and eventually anyone cannot help but develop hacks to overcome paralysis, and to tend to get close enough to the attendance of the necessary people most of the time.
For a large public group that is not by-invitation-only, I u...
> EXIT SECRETARY OF STATE
On the way back you decide to stop for lunch on 12 Mile just west of Dequindre in Madison Heights. There, nestled between the Burge...
> EXIT SECRETARY OF STATE
On the way back you decide to stop for lunch on 12 Mile just west of Dequindre in Madison Heights. There, nestled between the Burger King, Tubby's Subs, KFC and Checkers, is a sign reading "CRAZY SUSHI". Not "Status Symbol Sushi". Not "Elegant Sushi". Not even "Over-Educated, Under-Employed Sushi". "CRAZY". In puffy cartoon letters, no less!
Not an adjective most sushi-aficionados want to associate with raw fish. Do y...
As a postscript to my last entry: I realize some of you will be curious to try out interactive fiction right away. I recommend you start with Andrew Plotkin's D...
As a postscript to my last entry: I realize some of you will be curious to try out interactive fiction right away. I recommend you start with Andrew Plotkin's Dreamhold, both because it's designed as an entry point for people who played too many bad pieces of IF in the eighties and gave up, and because you don't have to download Frotz to play it. It's playable as a web browser applet.
Comments
rbradakis on Dec. 7, 2007 3:36 PM
Wait, but I want it for Frotz... Oh look, even a link to a Palm Frot...
I've been making a miniature toy Penguicon. You can run around in it and interact with artificially-intelligent miniature versions of people you might recognize...
I've been making a miniature toy Penguicon. You can run around in it and interact with artificially-intelligent miniature versions of people you might recognize. It's a shame Randy Milholland of "Something Positive" isn't returning this year--- had I made one for last year's Penguicon, it would have included something like this:
> GIVE FANFIC TO RANDY
You hand the crumpled sheaf to Randy Milholland. His eyes, as they traverse the lines, lose their light by progressive stages. Final...
I was very upset to miss the speech The Good Citizen and New Forms of Political Participation by Russell Dalton. I was running all over the Wayne State Universi...
I was very upset to miss the speech The Good Citizen and New Forms of Political Participation by Russell Dalton. I was running all over the Wayne State University campus trying a half-dozen different methods of printing a Penguicon flyer, and failing because the PDF file was rendered as the wrong page size when I made it.
I managed to get back in time for the Q&A followup with Professor Dalton, but couldn't ask my questions because I didn't know if it had already been covered: I don't know h...
I'm blogging this from the Digital Citizenship Symposium at Wayne State University. I'll be here all day. The library gives out login accounts to their guest te...
I'm blogging this from the Digital Citizenship Symposium at Wayne State University. I'll be here all day. The library gives out login accounts to their guest terminals, and that's what I'm using.
Vernor Vinge and I hope to have time to get some lunch or coffee and discuss the unique opportunities for topics at Penguicon that combine science fiction and computing to a degree that even he has probably not been given by the other SF conventions to which he is so often invited. Hearing Vernor Vinge ...
I've been playing Interactive Fiction ever since I got my first handheld computer. Decades previously, I played Infocom games and their contemporaries during th...
I've been playing Interactive Fiction ever since I got my first handheld computer. Decades previously, I played Infocom games and their contemporaries during their commercial availability in the 80s. But the rise and fall of text-prompt adventure game publishing was neither the birth nor the death of the art form, which flourished free-of-charge before and since. It is no more obsolete because of graphics cards than novels are obsolete because of movies, and for most of the same reasons.
IF has ...
I've read everything by Greg Egan. Everything. I even hunted down the old stuff. I have a Google Alert set to email me, at least eventually, any time "greg...
I've read everything by Greg Egan. Everything. I even hunted down the old stuff. I have a Google Alert set to email me, at least eventually, any time "greg egan" -hockey -wrestler -ncr -sports appears on the web. The minus signs are to rule out others of the same name.
Today it led me to an obscure blog comment appearing to criticize Greg Egan, or possibly not, but making a vague humorous reference to "stevelets" in the context of several authors. He wasn't very coherent, but...
On my way to U*Con, the gaming convention in Ann Arbor, called to ask if I'd fill in as the liaison to the Guest of Honor. He's Loren Wiseman, creator of the SF...
On my way to U*Con, the gaming convention in Ann Arbor, called to ask if I'd fill in as the liaison to the Guest of Honor. He's Loren Wiseman, creator of the SF roleplaying game Traveler, which turns 30 this year. I said yes, provided the duties could fit around Clark Rodeffer's annual abstract strategy games tournament, which is the reason I never miss U*Con.
Loren's easy to liaison to. I just plied him with Diet Coke, took him to dinner on U*Con's bill, and drove him to his hotel. Unfortunatel...
Hey, how cool. In the new educational video, "Spam, Time, and You", Google's Brad Taylor mentions Esperanto. This will undoubtedly bring many new spea...
Hey, how cool. In the new educational video, "Spam, Time, and You", Google's Brad Taylor mentions Esperanto. This will undoubtedly bring many new speakers to that artificial language, and possibly from there to the world of artificial languages in general.
Comments
thefile on Nov. 1, 2007 12:16 AM
Isn't Esperanto more of a "constructed" language, rather than "artificial"?
After all, it uses other languages as roots ("...similar to words from Romance, Germanic ...
EPCOT Center had a robot arm that painted portraits, in the late eighties/early nineties. I bought a robot-painted portrait of me, but left it on the double-dec...
EPCOT Center had a robot arm that painted portraits, in the late eighties/early nineties. I bought a robot-painted portrait of me, but left it on the double-decker bus in World Showcase.
Now I want to make something like this poster-making robot made out of printer parts and an old Roomba.
What Penguicon needs is an annual Hack Of Honor-- a live-and-in-person D.I.Y. Imagineering exhibit that makes conventions fun. We're not going to get Makers to pack up and bring their stuff without helping the...
Tim Schmidt informs me over long-distance tech support that I mistakenly downloaded the bare-bones "alternate" version. I was impatient to get Ubuntu ...
Tim Schmidt informs me over long-distance tech support that I mistakenly downloaded the bare-bones "alternate" version. I was impatient to get Ubuntu version 7.10 codename Gutsy Gibbon, on a day when millions of people around the world were all trying to download it at once; so I ganked it from a server that put up the wrong version by mistake.
The correct FULL version has a Live CD included. So it puts you into a fully usable desktop, with a big 'install' button. Instead what I had wa...
Well, that was instructional.
To recap:
I found a nice old PC in the curbside trash.
I tried to upgrade my Linux box running Ubuntu to the latest version, "...
Well, that was instructional.
To recap:
I found a nice old PC in the curbside trash.
I tried to upgrade my Linux box running Ubuntu to the latest version, "Gutsy Gibbon", but it only would boot to a command line.
At this point I still had not done anything with the curbside PC-- we're talking about two different computers, just so we're clear.
Well, this evening I took both the hard drives out of the Linux box, and put the 160GB hard drive from the curbside PC in there. I formatted wha...
The same thing has happened when I tried to upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu (Gutsy Gibbon) as happened the last time Canonical released an upgrade (Feis...
The same thing has happened when I tried to upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu (Gutsy Gibbon) as happened the last time Canonical released an upgrade (Feisty Fawn). The upgrade manager only freezes.
So I burned it to a CD and went through a reinstall process. It told me if I wanted to install on the master hard drive it would delete all my data. I installed it on the secondary hard drive, since it's blank and the master hard drive has been telling me lately that it's detecting errors and is...
The motto of Brad Sucks is "a one man band with no fans". Rest assured this name and motto is the ultimate in modesty. I have blogged before about the...
The motto of Brad Sucks is "a one man band with no fans". Rest assured this name and motto is the ultimate in modesty. I have blogged before about the subtly funny "Overreacting". To follow up his debut Creative Commons licensed album (the equally wrongly named "I Don't Know What I'm Doing"), Brad is inviting the entire internet to provide background vocals for his next Creative-Commons-licensed song, "Out Of It".
Brad is fun. Everybody's getting in on thi...
Although by no means is it a requirement that I be with a woman who would listen to me read entire Greg Egan novels aloud to her and who would actually enjoy it...
Although by no means is it a requirement that I be with a woman who would listen to me read entire Greg Egan novels aloud to her and who would actually enjoy it (To say nothing of testing and drilling me in Lojban vocabulary flashcards!), this is without a doubt a compatibility of astonishing statistical rarity, for which I am grateful.
I met Rachel twelve years ago today. Two years ago I posted this philosophical reminiscence. At that time, she and I were the only relationship either of us ever...
If you're going to be at ConClave this weekend, you can catch my presentation and demo on podcasting: how to subscribe and listen to podcasts, and the bare-bone...
If you're going to be at ConClave this weekend, you can catch my presentation and demo on podcasting: how to subscribe and listen to podcasts, and the bare-bones minimalistic free-of-cost method to create your own. It will be on Sunday at 11:30 AM in Ballroom 6. Until then, you'll mostly see me working in the Consuite. I look forward to seeing you there!
Comments
meier-self on Oct. 15, 2007 7:28 AM
zombie boy comment made...
It is looking very likely after talking to my friend (that i ride with...
You know how I get with my single-minded enthusiasms and dreams. Ever since I got a really great job, the current obsession has been the spreadsheet on which I ...
You know how I get with my single-minded enthusiasms and dreams. Ever since I got a really great job, the current obsession has been the spreadsheet on which I track my financial projections and near-future milestones. In acknowledgement of life's unpredictability, I named it Unhatched Chickens, which I am counting. As of now, I have acheived many of the milestones. My objective is in sight.
The objective is not slavery to money, but financial freedom. I define this as the minimization of having...
I had a sudden realization yesterday that when I talk to my friends, I turn the topic almost exclusively to projects they're working on with me. Sometimes I use...
I had a sudden realization yesterday that when I talk to my friends, I turn the topic almost exclusively to projects they're working on with me. Sometimes I use it as an excuse to talk to you, but it has become an automatic reflex that no longer serves that ulterior purpose.
I find out what's going on in your lives through your blogs. I have a lot of communication by email messages, but none by phone. I have a lot of meetings, but no one-on-one visits. Except the ones which are about urgently ge...
There are some potential Guests of Honor with a standing that is so legendary, that it feels good just to get through and be turned down by an executive assista...
There are some potential Guests of Honor with a standing that is so legendary, that it feels good just to get through and be turned down by an executive assistant with the assurance that it was personally discussed.
Comments
thefile on Oct. 9, 2007 12:01 PM
....for example?
rmeidaking on Oct. 9, 2007 1:19 PM
Nah, they're all just Some Guy on an Elevator, in the end. :-)
etain on Oct. 9, 2007 2:35 PM
I still remember when I met Phil Foglio. "That guy who draws Girl Genius sure is a perv.&...
I suddenly have a new computer! For free, of course, as they all are. (Wait long enough, look in the right places, and manufacture luck through social networkin...
I suddenly have a new computer! For free, of course, as they all are. (Wait long enough, look in the right places, and manufacture luck through social networking, and spending money is often unnecessary. In money as in so many other aspects of life, waiting and watching is one of my superpowers.)
Yesterday the Lojban User Group met at my house. On our way back from a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant, Nick suddenly slammed on the brakes. A pile of four computers sat in a trash pile on the curb. After w...
On today's installment of my Suspension Of Belief segment on The Sci Phi Show, I give a reading of ""Enough is Enough, A Thinking Ape’s Critique of Tr...
On today's installment of my Suspension Of Belief segment on The Sci Phi Show, I give a reading of ""Enough is Enough, A Thinking Ape’s Critique of Trans-Simianism". With permission from Dresden Kodak, it's taken from his blog entry attached to the bottom of this comic.
MP3 link (6.7MB, 9 minutes 47 seconds)
Comments
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First off, any mention of patchouli clearly amuses the heck out of everybody. Next: Birkenstocks and David Foster Wallace novels.
Second, everybody who commente...
First off, any mention of patchouli clearly amuses the heck out of everybody. Next: Birkenstocks and David Foster Wallace novels.
Second, everybody who commented to say they had read the Bible through, also left it.
Granted, this was a survey sampled from smart people who behave decently. Kudos to for having read it cover-to-cover the largest number of times: three. That's hardcore. That's like programming in assembly with paper punchcards, punched by a robot which is controlled by patch cables,...
[Edited to add: In case there was any question, this post is about how grateful I am to my friends who identify as Christians, Buddhists, Pagans, and various bu...
[Edited to add: In case there was any question, this post is about how grateful I am to my friends who identify as Christians, Buddhists, Pagans, and various buffet-style custom designer religions. It is about the kind of things that they would not do, which I can't even conceive them doing. When I started, I intended to bring that up as the point of this post. THANK YOU!]
From time to time I reiterate my position about faith as it concerns what I will and will not tolerate. I'm tolerant of anyo...
Ever since I revealed to R that there is infinite anime on the web for free, the hours of 5:30 to 11 have been filled with it non-stop. This generates sound rig...
Ever since I revealed to R that there is infinite anime on the web for free, the hours of 5:30 to 11 have been filled with it non-stop. This generates sound right here at the computer desk. I don't want to record podcasts with a background in Escaflowne. Therefore, all my contributions that I owe to podcasts, including my own podcast, have stopped dead. Their plaintive cries call out to me, inspiring both guilt and desire.
I wouldn't wish to separate her from Naruto, so I must think of some crea...
The EPCOT Central blog has a beautiful article on this auspicious day. Happy 25th Birthday, EPCOT Center! This park is unique in its vision as a permanent World...
The EPCOT Central blog has a beautiful article on this auspicious day. Happy 25th Birthday, EPCOT Center! This park is unique in its vision as a permanent World's Fair of human knowledge, technology, art and travel.
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I know, I know. They're just trying to play me. All the same, I solicit your elaborations on that theme and any unique things I can do in this situation other t...
I know, I know. They're just trying to play me. All the same, I solicit your elaborations on that theme and any unique things I can do in this situation other than just ignoring it.
On Saturday the guy from the collection agency trying to collect my $2400 in credit card debt used a different number to call me, so I picked up. I told him I'm employed now so I'll be able to pay him, but I was not at home so I didn't have my financial projections in front of me. I told him when I looked at the spre...
To those of you who subscribe to the Penguicon LJ, sorry for the double posting-- but the SMOS Dinner is at my place in Hazel Park tonight. Bring chairs please!...
To those of you who subscribe to the Penguicon LJ, sorry for the double posting-- but the SMOS Dinner is at my place in Hazel Park tonight. Bring chairs please! There will be vegetarian pizza, all-meat pizza, and wings. Plus if you want to bring something to share, we won't say no! Email me at my gmail account, matt dot mattarn, for directions.
Comments
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I hope to audit a Python class, or at least some type of introductory programming class, in the evenings and weekends. Do you know any you can recommend?
How ab...
I hope to audit a Python class, or at least some type of introductory programming class, in the evenings and weekends. Do you know any you can recommend?
How about flashcards? Do those help for learning the vocabulary and rules of a computer language?
For years, I have gone back and forth on the issue of learning a programming language. At first, I didn't know why I wanted to, since I felt I should not invest massive time, money and energy in learning a skill unless it's the sort of thing I woul...
New books I'm requesting on my BookMooch list:
Fiction:
Vernor Vinge True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier
Karl Schroeder Queen of Candesce: Bo...
New books I'm requesting on my BookMooch list:
Fiction:
Vernor Vinge True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier
Karl Schroeder Queen of Candesce: Book two of Virga
Karl Schroeder The Engine of Recall
Education:
Raph Koster A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Brenda Laurel Computers as Theatre
Lawrence Lessig Code: Version 2.0
Lawrence Lessig Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
Lawrence Lessig The Future of Ideas: The Fate of...
Instructions
(1) Go to www.careercruising.com
(2) Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
(3) Take 'Matchmaker' quiz at the upper left corner
(4) Post t...
Instructions
(1) Go to www.careercruising.com
(2) Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
(3) Take 'Matchmaker' quiz at the upper left corner
(4) Post the top 10 results.
This quiz did a pretty good job, but the first one threw me for a loop.
1. Sport Psychology Consultant -- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Are games sports? Then they might be on to something. You can't make a socially-sound community in an MMORPG without understanding the motivations of players. Yes, that would be a good career.
2. ESL...
According to Google, the exact phrases "most useful web skills" and "most marketable web skills" do not exist on the web... until I put it t...
According to Google, the exact phrases "most useful web skills" and "most marketable web skills" do not exist on the web... until I put it there just now, that is.
What do you think are the most useful skills for working on websites? I will leave off certain technologies as too obvious to mention, such as basic computer literacy. Also take it as a given that the learner already understands the concept of links pointing to pictures, documents, and other files available on a we...
What to do after my three-step plan? (Debt elimination, reliable car, emergency fund.)
I think I'll found a startup company. I have a killer idea, and I'm prett...
What to do after my three-step plan? (Debt elimination, reliable car, emergency fund.)
I think I'll found a startup company. I have a killer idea, and I'm pretty sure how to turn it into money.
Some of the geekiest people I know nearly plozted when I showed it to them, and one of them actually sent me gifts in the mail. The only problem is that I can't pay them so it's currently a handful of Lisp code that trailed off when we all had a Sudden Attack Of Life. We got that far because tech geeks wa...
Ubuntero is a social network for users of Ubuntu Linux. Who else has signed up? You should be able to search for "Matt Arnold" and friend me. I can as...
Ubuntero is a social network for users of Ubuntu Linux. Who else has signed up? You should be able to search for "Matt Arnold" and friend me. I can ask my tech support questions there directly instead of here!
My first question is going to be about this PGP key process they're suggesting that I do through Ubuntu's developer and bug site, Launchpad... their instructions don't seem to be working.
Comments
none
After Pensacola Christian College expels a student, they allow him or her to return after a year. My brother is taking them up on that. He went back last week. ...
After Pensacola Christian College expels a student, they allow him or her to return after a year. My brother is taking them up on that. He went back last week. He says only that he has his reasons.
For those desiring background information, here are my previous posts about my brother at PCC:
My brother goes to Pensacola Concentration Camp, August 30 2004
Nightmares, September 2 2004
Andy returns to PCC, January 20, 2005
My brother got shipped from PCC, December 6 2006
Returning after having been...
Scalzi's law: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
And yet despite this being Scalzi's own law, Scalzi himself (being swift ...
Scalzi's law: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
And yet despite this being Scalzi's own law, Scalzi himself (being swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath) said in his blog post about the latest round of Science Fiction Writers of America vs. the internet:
SFWA erred in implementation, but not in intent.
Interpretation of the intent of strangers is one of the biggest problems in fights between groups. Scalzi might be right, but I am inclined to be les...
In my time-honored tradition of proving that LJ memes are not the boss of me, I am transmogrifying another one into the latest installment of "Ask Uncle Ma...
In my time-honored tradition of proving that LJ memes are not the boss of me, I am transmogrifying another one into the latest installment of "Ask Uncle Matt" without participating in most of the conditions set by the meme. For this episode, all the questions are provided by
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My brother Andy emailed me to say:
I randomly found this just now. And I'm sure you're going to tell me "Oh yes I saw this and I talked to the writer and ...
My brother Andy emailed me to say:
I randomly found this just now. And I'm sure you're going to tell me "Oh yes I saw this and I talked to the writer and ate lunch with him and played with his children and now he comes to Penguicon every year" like you always do. Lol.
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=849
Comments
rbradakis on Aug. 30, 2007 10:43 PM
The funny part to me is that this current tab in Firefox is the last one, and the first one (of about 20) is http://www.sha...
MP3 link: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, excerpt
The long night is over.
Ride now! Ride for ruin, and the world's ending! Pop the champagne! Kill the fatted calf! S...
MP3 link: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, excerpt
The long night is over.
Ride now! Ride for ruin, and the world's ending! Pop the champagne! Kill the fatted calf! Seize the day! Wake the neighbors! Anchors away! Hoist the mainsail! Make fast the stanchions. Spare no blood, sweat or tears! Full speed ahead!
On, on to glorious destiny!
Comments
blue-duck on Aug. 28, 2007 7:33 PM
Congratulations and numerous woots!!
etain on Aug. 28, 2007 9:07 PM
This calls for Martenelli's at the next meeting!
(Mart...
I found through the Existence Is Wonderful blog by Anne Corwyn, a life-extension activist who has Aspergers Syndrome. She points out a post in the Evanglical Ou...
I found through the Existence Is Wonderful blog by Anne Corwyn, a life-extension activist who has Aspergers Syndrome. She points out a post in the Evanglical Outpost blog, asking if there is a correlation between atheism and the autistic spectrum. The Evangelical Outpost would like to know whether, if you have a deficit in the ability to build a model of other minds, you may also find it difficult to detect benevolent intentions in every coincidence that happens to you and call it "God"...
I have a great job opportunity! $18.50 an hour doing print and web for a tools company in Madison heights, with the opportunity to get hired full-time making $4...
I have a great job opportunity! $18.50 an hour doing print and web for a tools company in Madison heights, with the opportunity to get hired full-time making $40-45,000 a year! $18.50 is half again as much money as I've ever made!
This could be the turnaround of my life.
My temp agency sent me an email asking me to call-- my agent wouldn't communicate electronically about the position, and wouldn't accept a call from Rachel. The neighbors weren't home to use their phones, so I hiked across town ...
Fiction:
Greg Egan Luminous
Ian McDonald Brasyl
Ian McDonald River of Gods
John Scalzi Old Man's War
Karl Schroeder Sun of Su...
Fiction:
Greg Egan Luminous
Ian McDonald Brasyl
Ian McDonald River of Gods
John Scalzi Old Man's War
Karl Schroeder Sun of Suns: Virga, Book 1 (Virga)
Charles Stross Glasshouse
Charles Stross Halting State
Education:
Jim Collins Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
Paul Graham Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
Tracy Kidder The Soul Of A New Machine
Scott Rosenberg ...
No money trades hands on BookMooch.com, just points to spend to get others to give you their books of your choice. I joined this morning when I saw
more
No money trades hands on BookMooch.com, just points to spend to get others to give you their books of your choice. I joined this morning when I saw
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ConFusion's 2006 Science Guest Of Honor P.Z. Myers, in his blog Pharyngula, linked to "HIV Denial in the Internet Era". Here are the headings from the...
ConFusion's 2006 Science Guest Of Honor P.Z. Myers, in his blog Pharyngula, linked to "HIV Denial in the Internet Era". Here are the headings from the article, all of which are commonalities between HIV denial and evolution denial:
Three Prominent Deniers and Denial Groups - This section mentions the disagreement by various camps within HIV denial, but a diversity of opinion is only to be expected and is not a sign of falsehood by itself. What is far more telling is that, like evoluti...
Behold, rules and a PDF for my newest game beneath the cut.
Scott Colcord introduced me to To Court The King at ConVersation. This is a dice game in which, if y...
Behold, rules and a PDF for my newest game beneath the cut.
Scott Colcord introduced me to To Court The King at ConVersation. This is a dice game in which, if you roll certain combos, like three of a kind or a straight, you receive the allegiance of certain members of the King's court who demand that configuration. On further turns you can use the influence of those nobles to change the outcome of your dice rolls, thus obtaining the favor of more powerful characters. The first player to obtain t...
Comments
users on Aug. 14, 2007 2:15 PM
Awesome, and I really like the placards.. although leave it to geeks to reinforce stereotype by taking like a THOUSAND ...
Comments
users on Aug. 14, 2007 2:15 PM
Awesome, and I really like the placards.. although leave it to geeks to reinforce stereotype by taking like a THOUSAND HITS to break a pinata! :P
matt-arnold on Aug. 14, 2007 2:25 PM
Yeah, didn't have time for paper mache so he made it out of cardboard.
users on Aug. 14, 2007 2:27 PM
Hehe, that is even more awesome, a trick pinata! I want to make one out of aluminum covered in cushioning...
zifferent on Aug. 14, 2007 5:59 PM
There actually was a very t...
When I first saw the poster for Stardust, I thought, "Oh, the umpteen-billionth reiteration of the same fairy tale story." This is only because, at th...
When I first saw the poster for Stardust, I thought, "Oh, the umpteen-billionth reiteration of the same fairy tale story." This is only because, at the time, I didn't know Neil Gaiman had written a book by that name. I respect his writing skills enough to suspend judgment on the topic and go see it.
When I saw in promotional materials what appeared to be a sailing vessel under dark skies, I expected a segment of the film to contain some element in the way of Master And Commander. In th...
The previous client to whom my agency had pitched me (the ones needing web skills in Farmington, offering 1.5 times as much money as I've ever earned) never mad...
The previous client to whom my agency had pitched me (the ones needing web skills in Farmington, offering 1.5 times as much money as I've ever earned) never made up their mind and hired anybody. They have left it open and undecided.
Tomorrow I start my first temp assignment from this temp agency. They're sending me to an ad agency in Troy that needs Quark XPress skills. It's completely unknown whether this will be a one-day assignment or longer. This will not pay as much as Farmington, but nearl...
I'm dog-sitting my landlady's puppy, a half-spaniel/half-coton named Lola. Lola is so young she couldn't even walk a few days ago. In the Python programming lan...
I'm dog-sitting my landlady's puppy, a half-spaniel/half-coton named Lola. Lola is so young she couldn't even walk a few days ago. In the Python programming language, the object "lola" is in the class Dog and has methods such as "lola.eat" and "lola.white". Bruce Webber explained this to me last night when we continued my instruction in Python. We completed all the steps I had planned out for what to do in my program Herdcat. Then he taught me the basics of Function...
There are two ways in which the high quality of writing has become a problem for readers.
The first way is that there are too many good books to read, and edito...
There are two ways in which the high quality of writing has become a problem for readers.
The first way is that there are too many good books to read, and editors are telling us they don't want to filter any more narrowly than that. Let us be candid. Many of us do not care enough about books to read that many, so we ask magazine editors to narrow down the field for us to those that match our tastes. Instead, Mike Resnick tells us that as editor of Jim Baen's Universe he'll give us any fiction he...
Normally I avoid installing software under Linux unless it's in Synaptic Package Manager. Contrary to popular belief, this results in an extremely full-featured...
Normally I avoid installing software under Linux unless it's in Synaptic Package Manager. Contrary to popular belief, this results in an extremely full-featured computing experience, since it's a rare application that is not found there.
But from time to time I like to stretch myself and attempt to learn a bit of Linux usage that has flummoxed me in the past. When I found version 7 of Inform has been released, and Synaptic Package Manager only has version 6 for Linux at this time, I was enticed ...
The only language I've ever programmed in is BASIC on the Commodore 64 in the eighties. Other than that I've just learned markup languages like HTML and CSS. I'...
The only language I've ever programmed in is BASIC on the Commodore 64 in the eighties. Other than that I've just learned markup languages like HTML and CSS. I've been dabbling in how to program in Ruby and Python in recent months. Last night Bruce Webber from my local Lojban group came over and gave me my first in-person lesson in Python. Previously I had been receiving remote lessons from Timo Paulssen, a teenager living in Germany who I also know through Lojban. Timo had taught me about data ...
I have a job interview tomorrow morning at a temp agency, The Creative Group! I'm very exciting. The job assignments they offer on their site have been promisin...
I have a job interview tomorrow morning at a temp agency, The Creative Group! I'm very exciting. The job assignments they offer on their site have been promising. I'm preparing my portfolio and references now. Wish me luck!
Comments
zifferent on Jul. 16, 2007 8:29 PM
Luck wish. That having been said, I hope your prepared and make a good impression as well as not run against too many deep idealogical rifts between you and the potential employer.
etain on Jul. 16, 2007 10:00 PM
Luck luck luckety...
I will be mostly out of contact Thursday and Friday, while in Lansing on a job.
Comments
artamonio on (None)
metalfatigue on Jul. 14, 2007 6:57 AM — Apropos o...
I will be mostly out of contact Thursday and Friday, while in Lansing on a job.
Comments
artamonio on (None)
metalfatigue on Jul. 14, 2007 6:57 AM — Apropos of nothing
I don't know whether you pay attention to 's webcomic reviews…but if there's one person I know who needs to be reading Jesus and Mo, it's you.
matt-arnold on Jul. 15, 2007 3:44 AM — Re: Apropos of nothing
Thanks for reminding me! It's been a long time since I read it. I've added it to my RSS aggregator so that I won't miss any ...
Now my episodes of the Sci Phi Show will be introduced and closed by me. This episode is about "Biochauvinism And The Mind Machine Interface".
MP3 Lin...
Now my episodes of the Sci Phi Show will be introduced and closed by me. This episode is about "Biochauvinism And The Mind Machine Interface".
MP3 Link (10 minutes 5 seconds)
Welcome to the Sci Phi Show segment, "Suspension of Belief", number four: Biochauvinism and the Mind Machine Interface. I'm your guest host Matt Arnold.
The other day at the coffee shop I saw a petition to enforce a global moratorium on genetically modified food. Accompanying it was a newsletter about wh...
I'm sorry, Battlestar Galactica. I didn't mean it. So you had a couple of bad episodes. It happens to us all. You're only human. Well, mostly. I can forget the ...
I'm sorry, Battlestar Galactica. I didn't mean it. So you had a couple of bad episodes. It happens to us all. You're only human. Well, mostly. I can forget the bad and focus on the good. And it is so good!
You and me, BSG. You and me.
Comments
le-bebna-kamni on Jul. 7, 2007 1:21 AM
**Whew** I'm glad to hear that, actually. I haven't caught up to the current episodes yet, and I would have been very sorry to quit. I'd like to ask a question, though: I heard that there were "webisodes" t...
The realtor company in Lansing which gave me temp work during May has suffered a computer crash and needs me to come back for a couple of days to fix things. It...
The realtor company in Lansing which gave me temp work during May has suffered a computer crash and needs me to come back for a couple of days to fix things. It will be Thursday and Friday of next week. I can't afford the gas for an additional round trip, and and moved out of Lansing, so I need a new couch on which to crash. The colleague who I trained as my replacement, Stacy, offered to let me crash at her place. I accepted, but if I can get somewhere else I'll decline, because suggests that S...
Battlestar Galactica used to be one of my favorite series. In season three, it has completely lost its way in the first two episodes. intends to continue watchi...
Battlestar Galactica used to be one of my favorite series. In season three, it has completely lost its way in the first two episodes. intends to continue watching, but I have lost interest.
The mysteriousness of the Cylons concealed their motivations. This allowed the luxury of assuming that their motivations, if revealed, would make sense. I extended this trust despite the mystical gibberish of the Cylons-- which barely even held together as a series of coherent statements-- because I believed ...
*sigh.* The person who left a voice mail to give me a "job offer" turns out to be with Primerica, the multi-level marketing scam. $&!#
Comments
y...
*sigh.* The person who left a voice mail to give me a "job offer" turns out to be with Primerica, the multi-level marketing scam. $&!#
Comments
yellowmouser on Jul. 3, 2007 3:45 PM
I heard from them last year. They're leaches.
the-leewit on Jul. 3, 2007 3:49 PM
Been there.
fraggedone on Jul. 3, 2007 3:50 PM
I worked for them at one point. If it weren't for the constant Conferences that I was required to attend, it wasn't TOO awful.
RXW-80
flutterby68 on Jul. 3, 2007 4:08 PM
Yea...
Normally I do "minicasts" lasting about five minutes, but today's normal-length episode of the Sci Phi Show is my overview of the works and themes of ...
Normally I do "minicasts" lasting about five minutes, but today's normal-length episode of the Sci Phi Show is my overview of the works and themes of Greg Egan.
(MP3 link) (10.1MB, 21 minutes 59 seconds)
Comments
none
Today's episode of The Sci Phi Show podcast is my essay about Edmund Furse and his attempt to adapt his traditional view of Christianity to fit robots into it. ...
Today's episode of The Sci Phi Show podcast is my essay about Edmund Furse and his attempt to adapt his traditional view of Christianity to fit robots into it. In discussing this I go into topics of non-human people, and the word "mindkind" in place of "mankind".
(MP3 link)
Hello. I'm Matt Arnold. Welcome to Suspension of Belief. This Episode: A Religion For Robots.
In the show notes, I'll link to a URL of an address by Christian
cognitive scientist Edmund Furse. This is a to...
I called my service provider today and cleared up a misunderstanding that resulted from a typo. My mobile phone has now been reactivated!
Comments
Anonymous on...
I called my service provider today and cleared up a misunderstanding that resulted from a typo. My mobile phone has now been reactivated!
Comments
Anonymous on (None)
An excerpt from the beautiful a cappella "Gulf War Song" by Moxy Fruvous on their album Bargainville. (MP3 link)
We got a call to write a song about ...
An excerpt from the beautiful a cappella "Gulf War Song" by Moxy Fruvous on their album Bargainville. (MP3 link)
We got a call to write a song about the war in the Gulf
But we shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings
So we tried, then gave up, 'cause there was no such song
But the trying was very revealing
What makes a person so poisonous righteous
That they'd think less of anyone who just disagreed?
She's just a pacifist, he's just a patriot
If I said you were crazy, would you have to fight ...
I mentioned this essay on The Sci Phi Show and said that I'd put it back at the top of the site when the episode aired so the listeners could see the illustrati...
I mentioned this essay on The Sci Phi Show and said that I'd put it back at the top of the site when the episode aired so the listeners could see the illustration, so here it is.
Imagine if transportation was defined as a device that uses horses or sails-- automobile drivers would be accused of denying the existence of transportation.
We're genetically programmed to see an Alpha Male in our primate pack as the source of truth and moral law. This explains the difficulty I have in communicating al...
In today's two episodes of Sci Phi Show (MP3 Link part one, MP3 Link part two), Jason Rennie and I discuss the Douglas Adams speech "Is There An Artificial...
In today's two episodes of Sci Phi Show (MP3 Link part one, MP3 Link part two), Jason Rennie and I discuss the Douglas Adams speech "Is There An Artificial God" which we played in a recent episode.
Comments
none
My birthday falls on Father's Day today, an appropriate opportunity to muse on this photo and related appreciative topics. This is a photo from Christmas 2005 w...
My birthday falls on Father's Day today, an appropriate opportunity to muse on this photo and related appreciative topics. This is a photo from Christmas 2005 when my dad gave me the Robosapien. I was thrilled! He reminded me that when I was a kid I always wanted a Omnibot. Since Omnibot cost two hundred bucks it was about forty times as expensive as a toy I could realistically have (with the exception of a sweet poseable AT/AT Walker the size of a dog, and a 1980s version of LEGO Mindstorms, fi...
One of the problems with self-employment is that it sounds ethically dubious. I would have to tell someone else my services can improve the success of their bus...
One of the problems with self-employment is that it sounds ethically dubious. I would have to tell someone else my services can improve the success of their business. But I don't really know any such thing. To make a living, I would have to say it, on no grounds whatsoever.
To illustrate... Every time I have been between employers, I've done jobs as a freelance graphic artist. And yet I was still so radically underemployed as to be essentially unemployed. I get almost no work because I don't kno...
My second audio commentary has been posted to The Sci Phi Show podcast today; this one on the subject of Morality As Software.
Comments
temujin9 on Jun. 8, 200...
My second audio commentary has been posted to The Sci Phi Show podcast today; this one on the subject of Morality As Software.
Comments
temujin9 on Jun. 8, 2007 9:14 AM
Dammit! Gone forever are the days when I could play music and surf the web simultaneously. Damn you auditory types, for interfering with my visual-semantic utopia!
temujin9 on Jun. 8, 2007 10:26 AM
One thing I would dispute from all of that: my usage of a calculator doesn't reduce my ability to reason mathematically. I can and ...
The following is from a conversation in 's thread about the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Warning: her post contains SPOILERS. T...
The following is from a conversation in 's thread about the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Warning: her post contains SPOILERS. This post does not.
The trilogy was a delightful surprise. I expected nothing good from Pirates of the Caribbean, due solely to the awfulness of the film based on the Country Bear Jamboree attraction, and due to the mediocrity of the Haunted Mansion film, and especially due to Modern Disney's reputation for raping its own heritage for dire...
Summary:
- There is a problem of life strategy.
- I am a very open person and I love talking to people.
- So I talk to people about the problem of life strategy...
Summary:
- There is a problem of life strategy.
- I am a very open person and I love talking to people.
- So I talk to people about the problem of life strategy.
- I am argumentative. It takes a lot for me to convince myself of anything, so my standards are somewhat high.
- I begin to realize that as a consequence of this, I should probably keep my thoughts to myself.
- I hate not talking about things, so this is another problem.
My life has one problem that dwarfs all the others to the point t...
Out of all the job hunting sites or tools online, what are your favorites?
Comments
flutterby68 on May. 27, 2007 5:48 PM
Michigan Works!
A temp agency found my...
Out of all the job hunting sites or tools online, what are your favorites?
Comments
flutterby68 on May. 27, 2007 5:48 PM
Michigan Works!
A temp agency found my resume there, and got me a temp to perm assignment. I am still there, and will have my official 2 years there in September.
drkelso on May. 28, 2007 4:04 PM
Monster, Careerbuilder, and Jobing.com. In that order. Make sure your online resume is publicly viewable.
And call all the temp agencies/headhunters around you. Every job I've ever ...
I'm now the literature columnist for The Sci Phi Show podcast. Today's minicast is the first installment of my segment, "Suspension of Belief." More s...
I'm now the literature columnist for The Sci Phi Show podcast. Today's minicast is the first installment of my segment, "Suspension of Belief." More specifically than science fiction and philosophy, this recurring segment will try to consider science-fictional philosophies.
Since I love science fiction and I love philosophy, I was of two minds when I started listening to The Sci Phi Show. On the one hand, I was thrilled by the idea of a podcast about science fiction and philosophy. On ...
< Enough people got on my case about it that I've edited the post. Keep in mind it's emotionally difficult for me to read help wanted ads. I am seriously not...
< Enough people got on my case about it that I've edited the post. Keep in mind it's emotionally difficult for me to read help wanted ads. I am seriously not being deliberately obtuse. I have now altered certain things from questions to statements. >
A friend has forwarded this job listing to me. As with most job listings, it's not written in human, so I think that I probably don't understand it. It's for a Business Analyst position. I'm still concerned about the word Business in there. It...
We've all heard "Time is money". Whether time is money depends on which one of them you're spending. It's true if you're spending time. It's not true ...
We've all heard "Time is money". Whether time is money depends on which one of them you're spending. It's true if you're spending time. It's not true if you're spending money.
We have to spend our own time in such a way as to maximize the money from it. But I'd rather pay someone for the results I want; their time in itself is worth nothing to me. It doesn't help me if they take longer to give me results. It doesn't cost me if they finish quickly so long as it's the same result.
If you...
This makes me feel extremely happy! After the way I had shot myself in the foot, I worried the Free Software Foundation would simply ignore me. You can see how ...
This makes me feel extremely happy! After the way I had shot myself in the foot, I worried the Free Software Foundation would simply ignore me. You can see how favorable the language is. Now I will compose a brief response to this as professionally as I can muster, to keep the door open for all kinds of interactions in the future.
Hello Matt,
Thanks for your application for the Campaigns Manager position. Unfortunately it did arrive too late, as we had made an offer to another candidate.
Your s...
Here's an update for those of you who want to know where this stands. Last week I submitted my resume and cover letter to the Free Software Foundation. I follow...
Here's an update for those of you who want to know where this stands. Last week I submitted my resume and cover letter to the Free Software Foundation. I followed up today by phone and was told that the position had been filled. Nonetheless, I have been inspired to think in very promising directions throughout this experience.
Comments
Anonymous on (None)
Have you given much thought to the distinction between external pressure and internal motivation? External pressures are urgent, while internal motivations, by ...
Have you given much thought to the distinction between external pressure and internal motivation? External pressures are urgent, while internal motivations, by contrast, are important.
Case in point-- I'm comfortable with a nomad life. I don't need to own a bunch of stuff. I've never nested. I'm using crash space on a couch in Lansing one night a week for my temp job. In fact, that's where I am right now, and it really struck home to me how comfortable I am. Do I have external pressures to incre...
The real-estate company and I have worked out a hiring compromise in which I will be a temporary part-time hourly employee for a month or two. I'll drive to Lan...
The real-estate company and I have worked out a hiring compromise in which I will be a temporary part-time hourly employee for a month or two. I'll drive to Lansing on Wednesdays and drive back Thursday evening, with an occasional third day when necessary. The understanding will be that during this time they will be looking for a permanent staffer and I will be looking for other employment.
They need me very badly right now, but are running up against institutional inertia when it comes to outso...
Unless the cost of living is radically higher in Boston, for fifty thousand dollars a year I can make weekend trips to Michigan a lot. Heck, for that matter, Ra...
Unless the cost of living is radically higher in Boston, for fifty thousand dollars a year I can make weekend trips to Michigan a lot. Heck, for that matter, Randall Munroe (the XKCD guy) is currently moving to Boston and maybe we can carpool to Michigan together.
I deliberately listed Cory Doctorow, Eric Raymond and Christine Peterson in my cover letter to the Free Software Foundation. If I have to give up promoting Open Source and Creative Commons in order to work for FSF, then they don't want...
This is on the website of the Free Software Foundation:
The Campaigns Manager implements the FSF communications strategy and works as part of a team to develop...
This is on the website of the Free Software Foundation:
The Campaigns Manager implements the FSF communications strategy and works as part of a team to develop and implement issue campaigns and community resources, acting as a spokesperson on matters of software freedom. The Campaigns Manager handles writing, editing, speaking, and research related to these activist and program efforts; coordinates the GNU Chief Webmaster and the other webmaster volunteers to develop FSF and GNU web sites; plan...
You know what? I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul! Fuck depression! I am going to send this email and hold my ground on telecommuting and a...
You know what? I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul! Fuck depression! I am going to send this email and hold my ground on telecommuting and a wage I can live on, as an independent contractor, or I'll keep looking! Fuck "no choice"! Fuck it with a broken-off broom handle! Of course I have a choice! I can choose to take this job and shove it, fuck this game, I don't play that! If I have to I'll move in with my parents and attend their (*&(*^&(^^%%^%#^$%#%# chur...
There has been no response from the graphic design position at the newspaper in Monroe. This afternoon I interviewed with the job I mentioned in my post on the ...
There has been no response from the graphic design position at the newspaper in Monroe. This afternoon I interviewed with the job I mentioned in my post on the 25th. They were extremely impressed with my portfolio and experiences. As I have said, the tasks are perfectly aligned to me. They don't stretch me at all and will allow me to be safely within a comfort zone. That's good, because I've stretched myself enough for 2007 and am ready to stop the stress and depression that comes with it. I'll ...
I downloaded and burned the Live CD / Install CD of Ubuntu Linux version 7.04 codename "Feisty Fawn", since all the help I found online said that the ...
I downloaded and burned the Live CD / Install CD of Ubuntu Linux version 7.04 codename "Feisty Fawn", since all the help I found online said that the only solution to my wrecked Linux box was to reinstall the operating system.
It's not booting from the CD. I carefully configured the BIOS setup to boot from CD. It's still not doing so. I tried starting Ubuntu in safe mode. Same problem.
I'm not as worried about my computer as I'm worried about public credibility of the Ubuntu project. I...
I updated my Ubuntu Linux to version 7.04 today. When I restarted, the bootup failed:
modprobe: FATAL: Module raid456 not found.
BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3...
I updated my Ubuntu Linux to version 7.04 today. When I restarted, the bootup failed:
modprobe: FATAL: Module raid456 not found.
BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-3ubuntu3) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
(initramfs)
There's no prompt. What should I do?
Comments
wolfger on Apr. 29, 2007 1:29 AM
Update Ubuntu 7.04 to Mepis 6.5?
:-D
Sorry, not much help, I know. Crap like this keeps people off of Linux.
Are you ac...
Jonathan Coulton wrote a great song lauding Benoit Mandelbrot and his famous fractal.
A discussion on the Penguicon mailing list of inviting Coulton to Penguico...
Jonathan Coulton wrote a great song lauding Benoit Mandelbrot and his famous fractal.
A discussion on the Penguicon mailing list of inviting Coulton to Penguicon (answer: we really should!) branched into a discussion of what kind of music counts as "filk". Of course Penguicon does not consider such categories when creating the Music track. We only consider what musicians our attendees like, and J.C. is as firmly within that category as anyone on the planet.
Anyway, during the filk disc...
I picked up Ron Hale-Evans from the airport at five in the morning on Friday and he slept on the futon at my house until ten. I eagerly showed him my set of Cha...
I picked up Ron Hale-Evans from the airport at five in the morning on Friday and he slept on the futon at my house until ten. I eagerly showed him my set of Chaos Tiles, but he already owned one. Of course he did! Our discussions in the car were one of the highlights of the weekend for me. I wanted to know how he got a book published. He wanted to know of any mind performance hacks I may have used to rid myself of superstitious fears, and I told him what had worked for me. It's a shame he lives ...
As said in a comment to the last entry, I have great experience in project management. But many different things are meant by the term. For instance, when I was...
As said in a comment to the last entry, I have great experience in project management. But many different things are meant by the term. For instance, when I was hired with my current employer it turned out to mean "customer service dispatcher who is responsible for watching the financial bottom line of employees and customers."
My only successful project management experiences involved no business model whatsoever. (Sal Sanfratello disagrees. After thinking it over for months, I am con...
Quick.
My employer has given me a great reference to a job opportunity that's tailor-made to my precise experiences.
- Writing and designing a biweekly newslett...
Quick.
My employer has given me a great reference to a job opportunity that's tailor-made to my precise experiences.
- Writing and designing a biweekly newsletter (in Adobe Pagemaker no less, just like at my old church job).
- Advertising.
- Flyers.
- Updating the website.
- Learning a piece of software and teaching their customers how to use it.
- Operating an offset lithography printing press and bindery.
I'd be able to continue to get evening and weekend work with my current employer. Granted...
Rave reviews of Penguicon are rolling in.
We broke our attendance record.
My ChessLARP: success.
My Coffee Ritual: success.
My Chaos Dispenser: success.
Almost ...
Rave reviews of Penguicon are rolling in.
We broke our attendance record.
My ChessLARP: success.
My Coffee Ritual: success.
My Chaos Dispenser: success.
Almost every type of stimulus reward structure in my brain was pinging off the scale all weekend.
So were my feet, legs, lower back, stomach, skull, and voice, but it was a measure of how transcendantly wonderful an experience it was that I didn't mind at all.
Hotel cleaning and packing/unpacking the moving truck are done for another year. There...
The Metro Times, a popular free magazine which bills itself as Detroit's weely alternative, plugged Penguicon in the central spread of this week's issue, on sta...
The Metro Times, a popular free magazine which bills itself as Detroit's weely alternative, plugged Penguicon in the central spread of this week's issue, on stands today. This year, instead of an article on Penguicon after the fact, it's two days before the convention! How perfect! The article is excellent and reads as follows:
Friday-Sunday • 20-22
PenguiCon
COMMUNITY
A gathering of hundreds of Linux geeks, gaming fanatics, sci-fi folks and fellow travelers, PenguiCon, is described as “an anar...
I really really
care about the program book
should not left that job
Comments
zifferent on Apr. 13, 2007 8:59 PM
...or split the responsibilities. It gives me ...
I really really
care about the program book
should not left that job
Comments
zifferent on Apr. 13, 2007 8:59 PM
...or split the responsibilities. It gives me all of the responsibility with none of the control. Of course at the time I remember making noises like I was overwhelmed, so I have to take some of the blame.
matt-arnold on Apr. 13, 2007 10:38 PM
It's not going bad, just hectic.
It has been an interesting experiment with doubling up. It's true, you're doing the part of it I never wante...
Every time I turn off my car, it needs a jump, and while driving it tends to lose power and coast, then turn back on suddenly. This made it difficult to drive o...
Every time I turn off my car, it needs a jump, and while driving it tends to lose power and coast, then turn back on suddenly. This made it difficult to drive out to the Macomb Schools and Government Credit Union branch this morning to deposit my paycheck, which I was doing because the service center said they were not allowed to service my account. MSGCU said because of my history they are going to put a ten-business day hold on my checks for the next six months, so I need a new bank. Can anyon...
Two requests for you.
First, in order to keep my head above water I need to supplement my current weekly twenty to thirty hours of work. Please let me know if y...
Two requests for you.
First, in order to keep my head above water I need to supplement my current weekly twenty to thirty hours of work. Please let me know if you can get my foot in the door at a job with flexible hours, preferably in the evenings and weekends. For the past couple of weeks, I have no longer been in the Project Management aspect of my position. They really needed someone who could hit the ground running. Without training or experience in the nature of hourly service companies, an...
Comments
netmouse on Apr. 10, 2007 10:04 PM
I've never tried to transcribe something before. It's extremely annoying. It won't let you pause the voice post if ...
Comments
netmouse on Apr. 10, 2007 10:04 PM
I've never tried to transcribe something before. It's extremely annoying. It won't let you pause the voice post if you play it with livejournal's interface (though you can open the voice post in real player, which I recommend if you're trying to transcribe). Then it froze on me and I couldn't type into it anymore. And now I can't figure out any way to go back and edit or add to the transcription.
rikhei on Apr. 10, 2007 10:39 PM
I think if you go to ...
Penguicon's programming schedule is now on the site in a list form, with complete blurbs, rather than table grid. There is still a link to the table grid, thoug...
Penguicon's programming schedule is now on the site in a list form, with complete blurbs, rather than table grid. There is still a link to the table grid, though. Proofreading is welcome.
Oh, and I tend to host a ton of Penguicon images on my personal webspace so a bunch of the Penguicon website images are down because my webhost is b0rked. I've switched back to using Geocities for the crucial ones.
Comments
none
Today I found HiTask web application for team task management. You know how some applications are so general-purpose that the labels on their controls are too v...
Today I found HiTask web application for team task management. You know how some applications are so general-purpose that the labels on their controls are too vague and generalized to understand?* This one does what I want, doesn't bloat with what I don't want, and has an incredibly shiny drag-and-drop user interface. I've wanted this for conventions for years.
This application amounts to Cat Herding Software. Understand what tasks await doing, not necessarily knowing how to do them. Assign task...
Yesterday was a rollercoaster. Fortunately it was "U"-shaped rather than "A" shaped.
A month ago, on my first day on the job, I didn't know ...
Yesterday was a rollercoaster. Fortunately it was "U"-shaped rather than "A" shaped.
A month ago, on my first day on the job, I didn't know the system very well and screwed up an appointment I tried to set. Fortunately I also put it on my own personal Google Calendar, which gave me a reminder in the morning. So, there was no one assigned to go out to the customer. A hurried investigation determined that the only person who knew how to teach the software wasn't with the compan...
My mobile phone service is back on. They took an automatic payment just when I had deposited barely enough money to instruct my car insurance company to make a ...
My mobile phone service is back on. They took an automatic payment just when I had deposited barely enough money to instruct my car insurance company to make a withdrawal. So that bounced again. The insurance policy will be canceled on April 8 unless I find another short-term loan by that date. I am rapidly tapping out my known sources of short-term loans.
I have made up my mind to sell my blood.
It's great to be making an income again, but I expect to be dead-broke for a while. Carpooling is a ...
informed me that yesterday during our "Mage: The Awakening" roleplaying session, when my character was raging against the other player characters for ...
informed me that yesterday during our "Mage: The Awakening" roleplaying session, when my character was raging against the other player characters for not taking the situation seriously, this was the first time I've ever reminded her of my dad. This made her very uncomfortable. It's not a good sign.
Comments
eposia on Mar. 25, 2007 5:12 PM
Why is it not a good sign? If it was in character, then you were acting, right?
matt-arnold on Mar. 26, 2007 12:43 AM
The problem is, it's very eas...
Have you picked up The Detroit Free Press today? Thanks to a press release from , a phone call from a reporter to , and a lot of organization work by , an artic...
Have you picked up The Detroit Free Press today? Thanks to a press release from , a phone call from a reporter to , and a lot of organization work by , an article about Penguicon ran on page A3. It included location, dates, rates, website, and some fantastic reasons to attend. I am thrilled by the article, and bought three copies.
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For me, this will be the best Penguicon ever, and I'm in control of making it so. But instead of being as happy as I could have been, I have been fretting about...
For me, this will be the best Penguicon ever, and I'm in control of making it so. But instead of being as happy as I could have been, I have been fretting about what could go wrong! This has now come to a stop. I have just invented a new catchphrase.
'AWESOME' MINUS 'SOME' IS STILL 'AWE'.
Take that home. Chew it.
We're meeting soon with a reporter from The Detroit Free Press at the hotel where, one month from now, 800 of us will "synchronize knowledge bases", as we euphemistically like...
The power supply busted on my Linux box. Just for the record. I might want to get this Mac set up, but moving the keyboards and mice is a hassle. For now, just ...
The power supply busted on my Linux box. Just for the record. I might want to get this Mac set up, but moving the keyboards and mice is a hassle. For now, just Windows.
Comments
stormgren on Mar. 14, 2007 6:45 PM
I have a few spares. You can have one, if you'd like.
Any idea as to the wattage of the old one?
matt-arnold on Mar. 14, 2007 7:08 PM
It was currently running on 400 watts. I know we tried a 250 watt while building it, and it wasn't enough. Can I come and pick one up?
My life consists of:
1. work nine to five.
2. wade through hours worth of Penguicon emails and not catch up; in fact, fall even farther behind every day.
3. fal...
My life consists of:
1. work nine to five.
2. wade through hours worth of Penguicon emails and not catch up; in fact, fall even farther behind every day.
3. fall asleep way too late at night.
Repeat.
For the first time I can remember, my inbox is hip-deep in unread mail. And every bit of it is important. Several subject lines read "I want to be on programming... why haven't you responded to me?" I'm hurrying as fast as I can to respond to you! Well, I am about to delegate my inbox to s...
My first income just trickled in. Doing the math, it looks like I won't be able to restore my phone service until at least the end of the month. Keep using the ...
My first income just trickled in. Doing the math, it looks like I won't be able to restore my phone service until at least the end of the month. Keep using the VoIP. It'll forward to me when I'm in the office or when I'm at home; when I'm in the car, visiting , or anywhere else without internet access, I'll be unreachable.
Comments
none
My mobile phone service has been temporarily suspended for nonpayment. I pick up my first paycheck tomorrow, but I'm not sure I'll be able to cover the phone bi...
My mobile phone service has been temporarily suspended for nonpayment. I pick up my first paycheck tomorrow, but I'm not sure I'll be able to cover the phone bill with what's left. So, for the time being, use my work number, 517-485-2650, extension 232. This will ring on the Voice Over I.P. set up at my house.
Comments
none
I just finished reading chapter one of the "Learning With Python" version of "How To Think Like A Computer Scientist". That chapter alone, &...
I just finished reading chapter one of the "Learning With Python" version of "How To Think Like A Computer Scientist". That chapter alone, "The Way of the Program", comprised of a single webpage, is a thing of beauty. I am not just more knowledgeable for having read it; I feel like I am actually smarter. I encourage you to read it.
I am considering adapting section 1.8, Formal and Natural Languages, as part of a slide presentation about Lojban geared toward totally ...
Click on this story and log into (or create) your Digg acocunt to try to get Penguicon onto the front page of Digg. Please! Last year we did this and got a trem...
Click on this story and log into (or create) your Digg acocunt to try to get Penguicon onto the front page of Digg. Please! Last year we did this and got a tremendous boost in web traffic and a measurable increase in registrations.
Comments
none
I have learned from experience that Penguicon will always be super fun for the attendees, no matter how it looks in March. I preface with that disclaimer becaus...
I have learned from experience that Penguicon will always be super fun for the attendees, no matter how it looks in March. I preface with that disclaimer because though I'm really excited about certain aspects of Penguicon programming, I'm discouraged and scared about the rest of it. Matt panicking in March and April* has become an annual tradition, and the convention always works out anyway, so take it with a grain of salt.
The parts I'm confident about are the parts I've always done well: comi...
Responsible financial management always involves self-denial, but that only goes so far. One gets one the rest of the way with a solid community, and then there...
Responsible financial management always involves self-denial, but that only goes so far. One gets one the rest of the way with a solid community, and then there's clever resource management. For instance, lives halfway between my home by Detroit and my job in Lansing. Being a co-host on his show (the biggest episode of the year, the one to celebrate the big comedy-music presence at Marscon) adds negligible cost for additional gasoline if I stay the night and complete the trip to work the next mo...
or,
"Things I Need Between Now And My First Paycheck."
In order of urgency:
Gasoline for round-trips between Lansing and Redford - $15 or more, each
H...
or,
"Things I Need Between Now And My First Paycheck."
In order of urgency:
Gasoline for round-trips between Lansing and Redford - $15 or more, each
Haircut to make sales calls - $15
Home office chair that supports my back - $30 from IKEA
*looks at list*
*looks at wallet*
*looks at list again*
Comments
netmouse on Feb. 27, 2007 12:17 AM
Maybe you know someone who cuts hair?
I'm surprized, in your position, you're looking to buy a new chair (surprized you're not waiting until the first...
A few weeks ago I found out from that my long-term career goal is called "Business Analyst" at her company. That's been repeatedly independently confi...
A few weeks ago I found out from that my long-term career goal is called "Business Analyst" at her company. That's been repeatedly independently confirmed, once again in comments to my latest LJ post. I expressed incredulity at the misnomer. and I carefully described the job functions to each other, to make sure we were talking about the same thing. There could be no mistake. It couldn't have been more camouflaged against my notice than being named "Business Analyst".
Wikiped...
Will I see many of you at wrap-up meeting tonight for ConFusion?
I have a color-coded decision tree for artificial intelligence. To my surprise, says I've alre...
Will I see many of you at wrap-up meeting tonight for ConFusion?
I have a color-coded decision tree for artificial intelligence. To my surprise, says I've already done 90% of the work of programming right there in that document. What's left is to put it into syntax and formatting so that it's script code for our game. I like this interactive online Ruby tutorial and this somewhat-less-interactive online Python tutorial, but when do I get to the part about "IF this, THEN do this, ELSE do th...
Things have been heading in a goodward direction on many fronts recently. But right now I will tell you about my employment. I have good news and good news. Whi...
Things have been heading in a goodward direction on many fronts recently. But right now I will tell you about my employment. I have good news and good news. Which one do you want to hear first? Thought so.
The good news is I've got a job! It probably starts first thing next week, but I'm getting a crash training session for most of the day Thursday.
Then there's the second good news. It's not just any job. It's moving my experience and knowledge in the direction I want to go: the tech industry! ...
From a chat today with John Cowan, author of The Complete Lojban Language:
This sentence is trivially palindromic because esuaceb cimordnilap yllaivirt si ecne...
From a chat today with John Cowan, author of The Complete Lojban Language:
This sentence is trivially palindromic because esuaceb cimordnilap yllaivirt si ecnetnes siht.
Also, Eimi pointed out the existence of "semordnilap".
Comments
palindromeg33k on Feb. 1, 2007 10:39 PM
my nickname being what it is, i have only this to say about this topic:
"Rats live on no evil star."
words to live by, friends.
words to live by.
Today I applied for a temp-to-perm Prepress position through the temp agency that's gotten me every job I've ever had. (Prepress is page layout, photo editing, ...
Today I applied for a temp-to-perm Prepress position through the temp agency that's gotten me every job I've ever had. (Prepress is page layout, photo editing, and vector art programs. All of which is stuff I like to do.) This was the only listing in their entire directory for the state of Michigan.
In the section where they asked me to briefly describe why I'm the best candidate for the job, I said I had more than five years professional experience in desktop publishing software. Then I also me...
In the Psychology Blog, Jeremy Dean writes about "Why Career Planning Is Time Wasted". I'm not sure I'd go as far as the title, since daydreaming abou...
In the Psychology Blog, Jeremy Dean writes about "Why Career Planning Is Time Wasted". I'm not sure I'd go as far as the title, since daydreaming about what would like, in anything, at least possesses the "utility" of fun. Regarding career, I'd say the old saw works as well here as in any other area of planning: hope for the best and prepare for the worst. But if you have a plan and you admit that it might not work out as well as you think, don't let anyone accuse you of pess...
This weekend at ConFusion I was the Guest of Honor Liaison to PZ Myers, the evolutionary neurobiologist whose blog Pharyngula is one of the best science blogs o...
This weekend at ConFusion I was the Guest of Honor Liaison to PZ Myers, the evolutionary neurobiologist whose blog Pharyngula is one of the best science blogs out there. We had entire phylums of phun. I was the one who recommended that he be our Science Guest, issued him the invitation, coordinated his schedule, mailed him a copy of "Galileo's Children, Tales of Science and Superstition" as a gift, and took care of him and his daughter while they were here. It was as great to spend tim...
My very positive ConFusion report will follow soon. For now, suffice it to say that I had many career conversations with tech-oriented friends and found out man...
My very positive ConFusion report will follow soon. For now, suffice it to say that I had many career conversations with tech-oriented friends and found out many things that encouraged me.
I'm trying to figure out how to adjust my resume to fit the Project Managment position Dan D. sent me a lead for. He says, "it's more like a project support job, where you would keep track of several jobs and customers all at once and make daily status reports. Attention to detail, good organizational and...
One of the most important projects I'm helping with right now is the Safe Schools Law. Most of you are, like me, self-confessed geeks and proud of it. You know ...
One of the most important projects I'm helping with right now is the Safe Schools Law. Most of you are, like me, self-confessed geeks and proud of it. You know why this is important.
Imagine you're a teenager again. Imagine you get your butt kicked on a regular basis by other kids at school and face constant intimidation and harrassment. As a teenager you may not be able to quote Rousseau about the Social Contract, but I'll bet you anything at some level you understand you're not in it. You migh...
Robin Lee Powell cut-and-pasted to me an excerpt he found on a chat channel containing quite an unfortunate and amusing insight about how to get experts to help...
Robin Lee Powell cut-and-pasted to me an excerpt he found on a chat channel containing quite an unfortunate and amusing insight about how to get experts to help newbies.
< dm > I discovered that you'd never get an answer to a problem from Linux Gurus by asking. You have to troll in order for someone to help you with a Linux problem.
< dm > For example, I didn't know how to find files by contents and the man pages were way too confusing. What did I do? I knew from experience that if I...
I've been considering posting my resume to a public LJ entry, but that might poison potential employers against me if they see it and it's not ... shall we say ...
I've been considering posting my resume to a public LJ entry, but that might poison potential employers against me if they see it and it's not ... shall we say euphemistically, tailored to them.
Some of you already totally understand. To the rest, please try to understand. I apologize for the tantrum. I grant that it's wrong of me to speculate on the motives of HR people or anyone else, and I will refrain from it no matter how I feel in the future. They themselves are not the reason that the way...
I wrote to my main man Anders Sandberg, noted Transhumanist scholar from Sweden, to ask him to apply his l33t skillz of data visualization to create the dungeon...
I wrote to my main man Anders Sandberg, noted Transhumanist scholar from Sweden, to ask him to apply his l33t skillz of data visualization to create the dungeons for my Lojban Online Roleplaying Adventure. He whipped out a Python script overnight and sent me the PDF the next morning. And of course he's blogged about it at great length, applying the letter substitution graph to the English language!
I would like to resume learning Python. What I learned of it from my German Lojban-speaking friend...
~ Networking = Good ~
I have hope that it's possible to be more real and open in the personal networking method of job hunting, which I've never tried before. T...
~ Networking = Good ~
I have hope that it's possible to be more real and open in the personal networking method of job hunting, which I've never tried before. The difference between the stretch of unemployment/underemployment six years ago, my last job loss three years ago, and today, will be that in the past three years I've formed the first community of support I've ever had. It would make sense if it turns out that only cold calling sucks. Networking makes me feel very encouraged. It's making...
I do not look for work when I have a job, no matter how much I dislike the job, because nothing in this world has ever had as negative or discouraging an effect...
I do not look for work when I have a job, no matter how much I dislike the job, because nothing in this world has ever had as negative or discouraging an effect on my spirits as reading job listings. An odor of desperate deceit rises from them. The gorge rises in my throat when, under the threat of destitution, I smell the stink of the weakening of my own resolve not to live a lie.
Just ask that I do the job. Do you have to demand that I care? Nothing provokes more loathing in me than the prospe...
Going forward in the immediate short-short term, I will set myself to do the following as my "job" during the normal nine-to-five hours.
... draw six...
Going forward in the immediate short-short term, I will set myself to do the following as my "job" during the normal nine-to-five hours.
... draw sixty illustrations for a game company (paid freelance work).
... draw samples for a published novelist's manga comic proposal (work on spec).*
... assemble and update my digital portfolio and pursue freelance work aggressively.
... improve my resume and look for leads. Maybe apply to work in the Google AdWords office in Ann Arbor?
... redis...
The bad news is, I am no longer with my employer, effective this morning. The good news is, I think I finally have thought of some things that fall in the cente...
The bad news is, I am no longer with my employer, effective this morning. The good news is, I think I finally have thought of some things that fall in the center of a Venn diagram of:
...what I want to do.
...what I'm good at.
...what people will pay me to do.
I need to avoid tasks that computers are good at and humans are bad at. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that I would be more useful designing software and user interfaces. The fact that my mind goes in those direc...
This was the best year of my life so far. Now that the characters and subplots of an untold story arc have converged to a climax and denouement, I can speak in ...
This was the best year of my life so far. Now that the characters and subplots of an untold story arc have converged to a climax and denouement, I can speak in oblique terms. I sincerely apologize that I'm not at liberty to go into more detail, because I dislike posts that don't tell the reader what they are talking about. Forgive me a momentary indulgence in that fully-acknowledged hypocrisy. In order for this post to not be totally worthless to you, here's a song.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, W...
Carl Sagan died ten years ago today. An extended excerpt from the epilogue to Billions and Billions, written by his wife Ann Druyan, was posted to the web, and ...
Carl Sagan died ten years ago today. An extended excerpt from the epilogue to Billions and Billions, written by his wife Ann Druyan, was posted to the web, and five or six years ago I read it while wandering in the collapsed shell of a faith that didn't work for me. Sagan's good death influenced my development for the better as much as did his good life. I wonder if that is why so many people are memorializing this anniversary as much as that of his birth?
To the bible-believer, the death of any...
Using color-coded animation on a map of the world, this page shows the geographic origin and spread of the five most well-known religions through the last five ...
Using color-coded animation on a map of the world, this page shows the geographic origin and spread of the five most well-known religions through the last five thousand years.
Comments
rachelann1977 on Dec. 20, 2006 6:25 PM
That's pretty damn sweet! I had a few things out of order in my hed, so it's nice to have it clarified.
It's interesting how Judaism just completely disappears from the map until modern times. It was there, but I guess they were just so outnumbered and spread out, there's no...
I'm bringing this up on my personal blog rather than my blog about Lojban because its lessons are broadly applicable to things that a lot of you are interested ...
I'm bringing this up on my personal blog rather than my blog about Lojban because its lessons are broadly applicable to things that a lot of you are interested in, so I'd like to get your feedback.
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The very best years of my education were the last two years of high school-- the years in public education. In particular, an astronomy teacher named Mr. Toll m...
The very best years of my education were the last two years of high school-- the years in public education. In particular, an astronomy teacher named Mr. Toll made a significant difference for the better, on my life and on who I am as a person.
I spent my Junior and Senior years at Roseville High because my parents could no longer afford religious private schooling for all of their children. Rather than put me back into home-schooling, they allowed me, their eldest, to complete my education in t...
I hope you enjoy this Dresden Codak webcomic as much as I did.
Comments
thatguychuck on Dec. 8, 2006 9:36 PM
Do you have a copy of Windows XP Pro lying around ...
I hope you enjoy this Dresden Codak webcomic as much as I did.
Comments
thatguychuck on Dec. 8, 2006 9:36 PM
Do you have a copy of Windows XP Pro lying around at home? I'm writing it here because I mean to ask you when you get home, but I know I'll forget. Thanks.
matt-arnold on Dec. 8, 2006 9:51 PM
No, I don't. Sorry.
thatguychuck on Dec. 9, 2006 4:49 AM
It's midnight, everyone has left. And it turns out I do know myself... I had forgotten. :) Thanks anyway.
You missed a fun night and a real...
Edge.org brought my attention to responses in the letters column of the New York Times (quoted below the cut), by the three atheists most prominently cited in t...
Edge.org brought my attention to responses in the letters column of the New York Times (quoted below the cut), by the three atheists most prominently cited in the resurgence of outspoken atheism-- Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. They plead for the simplicity and gentleness of their positions, against the reputations they are acquiring from those who have only heard about them from their detractors. Those who take the time to actually read their books find out that far from over-r...
Just write your letter and it will be hand-delivered immediately following the exodus of the pure from the Earth. But you must be thinking to yourself, "Ho...
Just write your letter and it will be hand-delivered immediately following the exodus of the pure from the Earth. But you must be thinking to yourself, "How can the letters be delivered after the Rapture?" The answer is simple. The creators of this site are Atheists. That's right, we don't believe in God. How else would we be able to deliver your correspondence after the Rapture?
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PZ Myers says:
Acephalous is trying to measure the rate of propagation of links across the net. He's asking everyone to link to his post (so this may just be s...
PZ Myers says:
Acephalous is trying to measure the rate of propagation of links across the net. He's asking everyone to link to his post (so this may just be shameless blog-whoring under the guise of doing science), exhort our readers to do likewise, and he's going to be monitoring its movement through Technorati, and will report the results at the MLA meetings.
So you heard me. Get on your blog, link to http://acephalous.typepad.com/acephalous/2006/11/measuring_the_s.html, and let's see how qu...
The phrase "the Alpha Male Monkey" may be the most useful new explanatory tool I've encountered in years. gave it to me in a recent LJ post about prim...
The phrase "the Alpha Male Monkey" may be the most useful new explanatory tool I've encountered in years. gave it to me in a recent LJ post about primate group psychology. It was an inspirational and motivational insight into the evolutionary biology of my psychology which has kept me up at night thinking of the implications. I wrote about it in this subsequent LJ post, but it occurred to me that this is valuable for explaining myself to bible-believing Christians.
We're genetically pr...
I'll post a thorough report of my weekend tonight. In the meantime here's a quick post.
Has no one else noticed that the breakthroughs which led to the motion-s...
I'll post a thorough report of my weekend tonight. In the meantime here's a quick post.
Has no one else noticed that the breakthroughs which led to the motion-sensing technologies in the Nintendo Wii can be applied to robotics? Robots have almost never had the slightest clue where their bodies were positioned in space, except through dead reckoning from their memory of commands they sent to their moving parts, from a presupposed starting position. If an exterior object moved them by bumping them...
This is a video of Richard Dawkins conducting a Q&A, mostly with students and faculty from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
The Christian interlocutors p...
This is a video of Richard Dawkins conducting a Q&A, mostly with students and faculty from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
The Christian interlocutors persistently repeated a slightly different question than Dawkins seemed to think they were asking. There are two questions about morality in their context: "First, does any such thing exist at all?" and second, "Once having settled that there exists a distinction between right and wrong, why do any humans abide by it?" ...
From 's blog post.
: I voted to ban Affirmative Action, although I had not given it thought before. It's difficult for me to conceive of voting in favor of Pro...
From 's blog post.
: I voted to ban Affirmative Action, although I had not given it thought before. It's difficult for me to conceive of voting in favor of Proposal 2 out of racism or sexism. I think most people were like me, and said, "if we're not going to discriminate, then let's not discriminate."
I wish I had read 's LJ post about it, and then I would have voted the other way. Of course we keep hearing we should feel guilty if we don't vote, even though we know we're not qualifie...
Thanks for the helpful advice you've been offering in my recent post!
A lot of you are having trouble believing me when I say I don't have much fat to trim from...
Thanks for the helpful advice you've been offering in my recent post!
A lot of you are having trouble believing me when I say I don't have much fat to trim from my expenditures. "It can't be possible", I hear you cry. Some cannot comprehend how it is possible to not get by. I must be spending on cable, yes, that's it! No, I was serious. I have never had cable. I don't smoke and I don't like alcohol. I do my shopping in thrift stores. I eat ramen. I don't have a land line. I got my bed ...
In this YouTube video you can see me and making ice cream with liquid nitrogen in the room party at Youmacon this weekend. That's my finished Linux-tan sculptur...
In this YouTube video you can see me and making ice cream with liquid nitrogen in the room party at Youmacon this weekend. That's my finished Linux-tan sculpture you can see atop the wall unit at the very beginning of the video.
Comments
dbvanhorn on Nov. 8, 2006 1:45 AM
Cool!
Of course you then need burgers grilled on an O2 barbecue!
zifferent on Nov. 8, 2006 3:16 PM
Nah! Thermite baked potatoes!
drkelso on Nov. 8, 2006 3:43 AM
Nice! That was pretty funny to listen to.
zifferent on Nov. 8, ...
The author of this interesting article had maxed out 11 credit cards in college. She paid off her debt, saved a rainy-day fund, and set herself up with seed inv...
The author of this interesting article had maxed out 11 credit cards in college. She paid off her debt, saved a rainy-day fund, and set herself up with seed investments on the path to retirement, by getting a second job, living out of her car for three months, and getting a cheap gym membership so she could shower.
It's surprising how few problems I can see with that idea, given that I have round-the-clock internet access at work. And as for a bed, I sleep in the back seat of my car all the time...
There is a deeper lesson that I see in the story of mega-church pastor Ted Haggard. John Scalzi took the insight almost all the way on his blog, and stopped jus...
There is a deeper lesson that I see in the story of mega-church pastor Ted Haggard. John Scalzi took the insight almost all the way on his blog, and stopped just short. Ted Haggard said this:
"The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," [Haggard} said.
John Scalzi commented in his blog:
...
What if plane fare money was no object for a science fiction convention? What if I could bring every single one of the most interesting Geek Philosophers on the...
What if plane fare money was no object for a science fiction convention? What if I could bring every single one of the most interesting Geek Philosophers on the entire internet, no matter how obscure outside their fields? What if I could talk to every visionary on the planet who fascinated me and provoked thoughts that kept me awake at night? What dream team would I put together?
That is my forthcoming podcast.
The first episode will be a metacast about what the podcast will be about. The second...
I've received enough good feedback to my last post [edited to add: I deleted that entry due to making enemies for no good reason], both in my comments section a...
I've received enough good feedback to my last post [edited to add: I deleted that entry due to making enemies for no good reason], both in my comments section and through instant messages and email, to seriously consider creating a new podcast. Thank you so much for the support. A built-in seed listenership is the biggest criteria for the decision. I now need to choose a name and some intro music. I'm considering calling it "Suspension Of Belief," as an extension of the page on my site...
The SciPhi Show is a podcast about science fiction and philosophy by Jason Rennie, an anti-abortion creationist who answers science fiction philosophical dilemm...
The SciPhi Show is a podcast about science fiction and philosophy by Jason Rennie, an anti-abortion creationist who answers science fiction philosophical dilemmas by saying he has faith in his lord and savior Jesus Christ.*
Upon originally hearing the name, I thought it would be a podcast exploring futuristic philosophies as illustrated in cutting-edge science fiction. Instead, the episodes I've heard thus far have used any old work of fiction-- often a Hollywood science fiction film or a short ...
CORRECT: "One of the directions in which you are going is wrong. You should do it this way instead. Here, let me make some suggestions."
INCORRECT: &q...
CORRECT: "One of the directions in which you are going is wrong. You should do it this way instead. Here, let me make some suggestions."
INCORRECT: "Because this is being scheduled stupidly, I quit/I'm not coming/I'm mad at you etc."
Implicit in number two is the assumption the person you're talking to is married to the idea.
I'm not sure how often or how loudly I need to repeat my call for participation. I think most people have heard and internalized it. I am running an ope...
Creative work is still work. When writing, design, or another use of the imagination is a task one has committed to do, one cannot wait for inspiration to strik...
Creative work is still work. When writing, design, or another use of the imagination is a task one has committed to do, one cannot wait for inspiration to strike. The creative professional has to learn how to corral inspiration.
Recoiling at the passionless utility, I used to consider this an excellent reason to keep my creative output mostly partitioned from my income except for the occasional freelance job. Anything that I do because I have to, I can no longer even tell whether I sincerely sti...
The Secret Masters of SMOS invite you to join us, regardless of whether you are a Secret Master Of Fandom, for abundant spaghetti this Friday, October 13. This ...
The Secret Masters of SMOS invite you to join us, regardless of whether you are a Secret Master Of Fandom, for abundant spaghetti this Friday, October 13. This time the SMOS dinner is once again at my house in Redford, conveniently central to the Ann Arbor/Detroit suburban metroplex. Here's a link to a Google Map. If you care about Penguicon, you are invited to show up, whether you're working on the convention or not. It's a small social gathering. It's laid back, you can talk about anything, an...
This is the third time in five days that I've drained my car battery by leaving the headlights on.
Comments
elizilla on Oct. 12, 2006 3:24 AM
Stop doing that!
...
This is the third time in five days that I've drained my car battery by leaving the headlights on.
Comments
elizilla on Oct. 12, 2006 3:24 AM
Stop doing that!
dbvanhorn on Oct. 12, 2006 2:16 PM
RELAYS ARE WONDERFUL.
A bit of hacking should allow you to gate the power to the headlights by the ignition switch.
zifferent on Oct. 12, 2006 2:25 PM
I've often wondered about that.
Why bother having a headlight switch at all. It's safer to just keep the lights turned on.
The first cars built didn't. ...
I've finished the artworks for the first five people to respond to the LJ Art Meme.
If anyone else wants one, you can ask, but I make no guarantees. And it help...
I've finished the artworks for the first five people to respond to the LJ Art Meme.
If anyone else wants one, you can ask, but I make no guarantees. And it helps if you make a request for something, even if it's vague. I'll do it if I like it.
How many of you actually fulfilled your promise to make art for this meme?
less
Life did not win a cosmic lottery by getting this planet. This planet won the cosmic meritocracy by being suitable to be granted life.
There is a school of thou...
Life did not win a cosmic lottery by getting this planet. This planet won the cosmic meritocracy by being suitable to be granted life.
There is a school of thought that says it is so unlikely for any given planet to be suitable for life, that it must be a miracle that life got any planet at all. That would be true, if life existed pre-planet, as if it were house-hunting, or waiting to be gifted with a planet. When you realize that life didn't get a planet, but that this planet got life, the &quo...
Yesterday my friend told me on the phone that when he sees my text messages on the Lojban IRC channel or mailing list, he imagines them spoken by a hyperactive ...
Yesterday my friend told me on the phone that when he sees my text messages on the Lojban IRC channel or mailing list, he imagines them spoken by a hyperactive chipmunk on meth... and suddenly my utterances cease to baffle and dismay him. He says other geeks need to meet me in order to be able to execute this audio transformation in their minds. Otherwise, I do not come off as breathlessly offering them the opportunity to get in on something I think is amazing and fun and cool. Rather, I come of...
KEY!
VALUE!
HASH!
DICTIONARY
!!!
ARRAY OF RANDOM WORDS RENAMED TO A LANGUAGE!
HOLY CRAP I CANT THINK OF ANYTHING MORE AWESOME!!!!
WIN!
LOSS!
SADNESS!
UINESS
*co...
KEY!
VALUE!
HASH!
DICTIONARY
!!!
ARRAY OF RANDOM WORDS RENAMED TO A LANGUAGE!
HOLY CRAP I CANT THINK OF ANYTHING MORE AWESOME!!!!
WIN!
LOSS!
SADNESS!
UINESS
*cough*
:)
Comments
none
Ganked from .
The first five people to respond to this post will get some form of art, by me, specifically for them. I make no guarantees about quality, but you...
Ganked from .
The first five people to respond to this post will get some form of art, by me, specifically for them. I make no guarantees about quality, but your piece will be unique.
The only catch, of course, is that as with most memes, if you sign up, you have to put this in your own journal as well.
Comments
uplinktruck on Oct. 6, 2006 1:04 AM
Okay, I'll bite.
I'm number one! I'm number one! I'm number one! I'm number one!
matt-arnold on Oct. 6, 2006 1:20 AM
Number two, actually. Someone r...
posted an interesting rant which seems to be directed at his fellow Pagans, SubGeniuses, Burners, and other permissive groups within fringe culture.
First, he s...
posted an interesting rant which seems to be directed at his fellow Pagans, SubGeniuses, Burners, and other permissive groups within fringe culture.
First, he seems to allege that some of their members wrap themselves in a subculture so insulated from the world that opposes them, that the weirdness of which they are so proud does not require courage. In fact, they don't know how serious conditions have developed against them in the world outside. This can cause surprise and unpreparedness, espec...
and I saw "The Illusionist" on Sunday. I enjoyed that movie. It was about the question of whether a 19th-century stage magician could truly perform su...
and I saw "The Illusionist" on Sunday. I enjoyed that movie. It was about the question of whether a 19th-century stage magician could truly perform supernatural magic. His childhood sweetheart was a Baroness and the fiance of the Crown Prince for political reasons. They knew he would hunt them down and kill them if they tried to run away together; they could never be safe. When they tried to escape anyway, the Crown Prince murdered her. That began a murder mystery about the supernatura...
Ganked from . List five truths. Five things that are on your mind. Good, bad, it matters not. Lift some weight off. Then, pick five people to do the same.
1. Ha...
Ganked from . List five truths. Five things that are on your mind. Good, bad, it matters not. Lift some weight off. Then, pick five people to do the same.
1. Having one's fortune told is no better of a reason for rearranging one's relationships than it was to tell Reagan how to run the country and where to send the military.
2. There is a blurry line between scary and funny, and Jonathan Coulton knows exactly where that line is.
3. Server administration skills are rarer, more important, and more...
Darn you, LiveGerbil! You got the idea before I did, and staked your claim on the domain name. But I ask you, would you have put up illustrations for cyborg-blo...
Darn you, LiveGerbil! You got the idea before I did, and staked your claim on the domain name. But I ask you, would you have put up illustrations for cyborg-blogging through a virtual reality system involving a human-sized hamster ball? Aha! No. I think not.
Comments
rachelann1977 on Sep. 21, 2006 1:23 AM
so unfortunate. And the site only has one working link, and it's a blog.........not even one about gerbils. Humph.
Daily Show Resident Expert John Hodgman, (who'll you may recognize as "Hi, I'm a PC" from the Apple commercials) and Traveling Troubador Jonathan Coul...
Daily Show Resident Expert John Hodgman, (who'll you may recognize as "Hi, I'm a PC" from the Apple commercials) and Traveling Troubador Jonathan Coulton (who I blogged about last night) seem to have some kind of co-promotional partnership, constantly mentioning each other in their blogs, and touring together. They'll appear at the Borders Books And Music on Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor on Wednesday, October 4 at 7PM. However, the only way Coulton will give a concert later that night ...
played "Skullcrusher Mountain" for me, and Scalzi had me listen to "Code Monkey", "Mandelbrot Set" and "Re: Your Brain" ...
played "Skullcrusher Mountain" for me, and Scalzi had me listen to "Code Monkey", "Mandelbrot Set" and "Re: Your Brain" on his iPod. These songs by Jonathan Coulton were enough to make me ask Lady Sarah to please see if there is any way Coulton would like to perform at Penguicon. I've been listening to his free samples and buying his music all day, and have transformed into a fan eager to tell everyone I know.
Some of his music is genuinely tender and touc...
My favorite type of PC game, by far, is Real-Time Strategy. Many years ago when my only social outlet was an uninteresting church, I sat at home alone and playe...
My favorite type of PC game, by far, is Real-Time Strategy. Many years ago when my only social outlet was an uninteresting church, I sat at home alone and played computer games incessantly. That ended abruptly three and a half years ago when I attended my first science fiction convention and started making a lot of friends, and I've hardly played any computer games since. One of my dreams, now that I have an active social life and many friends, has been to have LAN (Local Area Network) parties a...
In case anybody missed my previous post about it and doesn't know about the new blog on the Penguicon website, and its Livejournal syndication, here's what I ju...
In case anybody missed my previous post about it and doesn't know about the new blog on the Penguicon website, and its Livejournal syndication, here's what I just posted there:
Tonight, September 15, 2006, it's at my house in Redford, conveniently central to the Ann Arbor/Detroit suburban metroplex! I'm serving pizza. Show up if you care about Penguicon, whether you're working on the convention or not.
Every other Friday we gather in the home of John Guest, the Chair. We include anyone who wants...
Jack Chick's tinfoil-hat evangelical ministry gets progressively farther away from the reality-based community with each new comic-book tract they publish, such...
Jack Chick's tinfoil-hat evangelical ministry gets progressively farther away from the reality-based community with each new comic-book tract they publish, such as this year's "Here, Kitty Kitty".
I love how when a child confesses to a schoolteacher they intend to cast a spell on her, somehow the teacher never thinks to correct her student's belief that magic works. Instead she launches a hamfisted segue into a lengthy rabbit-trail about the plan of salvation, as if she had never had a...
I asked artificial intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel, "what do you think of the potential for artificial intelligence resulting from games such as those...
I asked artificial intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel, "what do you think of the potential for artificial intelligence resulting from games such as those described in this video?" As the presenter said in that video, if there's ever a machine uprising, if their thoughts are the democratic output of our moment-to-moment voting, one thing the our machine masters might need to keep us around for would be to operate them! This is a surprisingly plausible scenario, given that a tug-of-war...
I don't speak on behalf of Penguicon and I'm not claiming the views expressed here are representative of anyone else running it. That's as it should be. Penguic...
I don't speak on behalf of Penguicon and I'm not claiming the views expressed here are representative of anyone else running it. That's as it should be. Penguicon is all about 1. Fun, 2. More Fun, and 3. Keep Fun First. It's not about ideology. But Penguicon has two incidental side benefits that get me excited and are very fun for me. One is spreading Free and Open Source Software to fans of science fiction, fantasy, games, anime, and comics, who aren't technically skilled. The other is to use t...
I died in the Dungeon of Matt Arnold
I was killed in a misty chamber by a tainted potion, whilst carrying...
the Dagger of Aaronthul, the Shield of Notavirusdot...
I died in the Dungeon of Matt Arnold
I was killed in a misty chamber by a tainted potion, whilst carrying...
the Dagger of Aaronthul, the Shield of Notavirusdotexe, the Sceptre of Systemsthinker, the Dagger of Reading, the Sword of Jeffreyab, the Amulet of Douglas Adams, the Crown of Zillafan, the Dagger of Utopia, the Crown of Davroz, a Figurine of Overthesun, the Dagger of Sibbidy, the Axe of Vesperto, the Crown of Scottym, the Wand of Mrtanooki, the Axe of Go, the Crown of Wormquartet, the Ax...
Entertaible combines dynamic playing fields & levels found in computer gaming with the social interaction & tangible playing pieces of board games. It i...
Entertaible combines dynamic playing fields & levels found in computer gaming with the social interaction & tangible playing pieces of board games. It is a 32-inch horizontal LCD touch screen with multi-object position detection. It's currently just a concept product, not for sale or production. I have been waiting for this since... I can't remember a time when I wasn't waiting for this.
Comments
thatguychuck on Sep. 7, 2006 8:13 PM
And what would you do with it? (Besides not spill your...
We have a blog on the Penguicon website to report how things are going and to just talk about Penguicon. So far I'm the only one who's posted to it-- six times-...
We have a blog on the Penguicon website to report how things are going and to just talk about Penguicon. So far I'm the only one who's posted to it-- six times-- but it's worth reading. Comments are turned on, and feedback is solicited! Others plan to blog there as well.
Comments
none
In the comments to Scalzi's blog entry about the Hugo award victory of "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson, Patrick Nielsen Hayden says he wants to have m...
In the comments to Scalzi's blog entry about the Hugo award victory of "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson, Patrick Nielsen Hayden says he wants to have my children. This is the most... interesting compliment I've ever received.
Thanks, ! Regrettably, you may not bear my offspring, nor can you. But I'll settle instead if you will consent to letting me schedule you on panels at Penguicon with Scalzi, Nick Sagan, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette and Sarah Zettel!
The opinion he approved of was ...
I may write a book someday about my experiences with experiments with Un-churches. One of the chapters would concern Universism. For those who don't know, Unive...
I may write a book someday about my experiences with experiments with Un-churches. One of the chapters would concern Universism. For those who don't know, Universism is a "religion" like Unitarian Universalism except that instead of embracing all religious heritages, it rejects all of them in favor of "faith in reason, inspiration in nature, and hope in progress". The emphasis was "on the attitude and spirit in which you address religious questions, and the tools you use...
When a presentation is scheduled for the Sabbath and my expert presenter practices Orthodox Judaism, "Can he get up to the whiteboard?" ceases to be a...
When a presentation is scheduled for the Sabbath and my expert presenter practices Orthodox Judaism, "Can he get up to the whiteboard?" ceases to be a metaphorical question. Some people literally can't write before 5:21 PM.
Comments
phecda on Aug. 31, 2006 5:00 PM
Oy vey!
bardicwench on Aug. 31, 2006 6:51 PM
oops...
dbvanhorn on Aug. 31, 2006 7:23 PM
Do they go by time zones, or right down to the numbers on longitude?
rachelann1977 on Aug. 31, 2006 10:33 PM
I'm pretty sure it has t...
Here's a link to a video of the original Star Trek edited to lip-synch with the Camelot song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
Comments
rachelann1977 on Au...
Here's a link to a video of the original Star Trek edited to lip-synch with the Camelot song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
Comments
rachelann1977 on Aug. 30, 2006 12:36 AM
Thanks for the link!
eposia on Aug. 30, 2006 5:43 AM
That was hilarious! (and well done)
I am in charge of organizing jboselsla (Lojban-type-of-celebration) at Philcon 2006, Nov 17-19. Coordinating with the Philcon organizers, mailing in the group r...
I am in charge of organizing jboselsla (Lojban-type-of-celebration) at Philcon 2006, Nov 17-19. Coordinating with the Philcon organizers, mailing in the group registrations to get a group rate, and designing and running the events we will do.
This schedule is tentative and in progress. We still don't know the Philcon schedule.
Draft Schedule Of Events
Friday, November 17, 2006
* 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Discussion: Lojbanic software development- priorities and direction
* 6:45 - 7:15 p.m. Discussion: Do...
< sarcasm > If you believe a human embryo is a person, and that we are obligated to bring it to term, I suggest you avert your eyes from this scene of mur...
< sarcasm > If you believe a human embryo is a person, and that we are obligated to bring it to term, I suggest you avert your eyes from this scene of murder unless you have a strong stomach. < /sarcasm >
I'll bet after it thaws out in that trash bag, that embryo is thinking, "I am relieved! Thank goodness the suspended animation which was keeping me in a Terry-Schiavo-like state of life support is going to collapse now and let nature take its course as God intended. That was a ...
The computer on which I run Linux had a hardware problem and wouldn't boot up; took it and fixed it in half an hour by resetting the BIOS chip. Thanks, !
I've a...
The computer on which I run Linux had a hardware problem and wouldn't boot up; took it and fixed it in half an hour by resetting the BIOS chip. Thanks, !
I've also had a software problem for months: the Firefox web browser wouldn't start. Even uninstalling and reinstalling it didn't fix this. I logged on to the chat channel of Ubuntu Linux, and within half an hour the friendly folks there had identified the problem and took me step-by-step through setting things right. Somehow Firefox was living...
I would love to somehow get Philip Rosedale and/or Cory Ondrejka to appear at Penguicon! This video has some great moments.
-- talking about Second Life having ...
I would love to somehow get Philip Rosedale and/or Cory Ondrejka to appear at Penguicon! This video has some great moments.
-- talking about Second Life having a larger virtual land area and "real $$" economy than Monaco and rapidly overtaking Luxembourg
-- showing off firework rockets that are piloted by astronaut mice
-- a magic wand that reacts to the speaker's voice to produce objects based on words in his speech ("Santa": Santa's sleigh and reindeer drop out of the sky a...
I just read on Penny Arcade news of a development which might take yet another aspect of science fiction conventions and cause its attendees to evaporate into s...
I just read on Penny Arcade news of a development which might take yet another aspect of science fiction conventions and cause its attendees to evaporate into some kind of luminiferous ether on the internet. The way eBay did for the Dealers Room. The way artist's WWW storefronts did for the Art Show. The way blogs did for Amateur Press Associations.
This time it's the Game Room. Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Alhambra are coming to XBox Live. As Tycho's editorial on Penny Arcade demonstrates...
A British television show called "Not the Nine O'Clock News" parodies the controversy that took place in England when Monty Python created "The L...
A British television show called "Not the Nine O'Clock News" parodies the controversy that took place in England when Monty Python created "The Life Of Brian". In this parody, comedian Rowan Atkinson (better known as Mr. Bean) plays a catholic filmmaker who has created a film about some unknown guy "Jesus Christ" who they angrily claim is an offensive parody of their lord and savior John Cleese.
http://www.youtube.com/v/ykN-00i7VVs
Comments
users on Aug. 22, 2006 5...
I knew if I sent this to Cory Doctorow, he'd blog it with an interesting critique, given the views he illustrated in his short story "I, Robot" (for w...
I knew if I sent this to Cory Doctorow, he'd blog it with an interesting critique, given the views he illustrated in his short story "I, Robot" (for which he is a finalist for a Hugo at the upcoming Worldcon). And he did.
By the way, "Again" in the title of this post refers to this:
Comments
none
Here's a link to another parody of a Jack Chick cartoon tract. This one has all original storyline and art. It's lighthearted fun.
Did you know when God created...
Here's a link to another parody of a Jack Chick cartoon tract. This one has all original storyline and art. It's lighthearted fun.
Did you know when God created the world, pants were created for the bondage of the Assyrians*, not for the saved? Will you accept personal salvation through the removal of pants?
I love how they even include obscure references with asterisks, such as "DF Wallace, Harper's". A spot-on parody.
* DF Wallace, Harper's
Comments
rachelann1977 on Aug. 14, 2006 3:...
here and here and here are linking to an article by John Wang of PointlessWasteOfTime.com titled "7 Reasons The 21st Century Is Making Us Miserable".
...
here and here and here are linking to an article by John Wang of PointlessWasteOfTime.com titled "7 Reasons The 21st Century Is Making Us Miserable".
John Wang is insightful and hilarious, as many of his past essays have demonstrated. He is no less so here. However, I wonder how it is possible that, far from being a goth as that article predicted, I am almost the antithesis of goth. I don't get very lonely. I don't get depressed. I don't think everybody's out to get me. I feel that I h...
I'm very grateful to my brother Andy for waking up at the same time I did, 3:45 AM, and driving me to the airport to catch my early flight. Here I am in Texas, ...
I'm very grateful to my brother Andy for waking up at the same time I did, 3:45 AM, and driving me to the airport to catch my early flight. Here I am in Texas, visiting the home of my wonderful and beautiful loved one, . I'm going to be online until about midnight, while she's at work. Feel free to message me.
I got to meet upon arrival at the airport, and his flight departed hours after mine arrived. It was also neat to see how he and picked up each other's speech patterns. I regretted arrangin...
Gerald Gentry brought his computer to ConVersation and asked that whenever someone made a comment that seemed inexplicable out of context, they allow him to rec...
Gerald Gentry brought his computer to ConVersation and asked that whenever someone made a comment that seemed inexplicable out of context, they allow him to record them saying it. His intent was to remix these clips into a song, which he has now done (mp3 link). reports that upon hearing my quote (the first one in the song in my jauntiest goofball mode), his laughter was significant enough to physically handicap him.
Comments
users on Aug. 4, 2006 12:27 AM
The song is absurdly fun, and makes me...
Here is a link to an interesting article "Willpower is best used with care," on the findings of psychologists that self-control is more determinate of...
Here is a link to an interesting article "Willpower is best used with care," on the findings of psychologists that self-control is more determinate of success than talent, that willpower can be strengthened like a muscle through excercise, and that it can be fatigued and depleted. Excerpt:
... the general principle - not to spread our inner resolve too thin - is an important one. If you are about to embark on a big project you court disaster if at the same time your life is cluttered a...
It is a good idea to communicate with me about a buildup of dissatisfactions before abruptly and unexpectedly cutting me out of one's life. This has been happen...
It is a good idea to communicate with me about a buildup of dissatisfactions before abruptly and unexpectedly cutting me out of one's life. This has been happening with disappointing frequency among some of my most important relationships recently, and I fear that-- for all I know-- it may be working up toward happening with some more of them.
I understand how difficult or unpleasant one feels when communicating negative feelings. The path of least resistance is to let it build up silently until...
The world's first nanotech CAD/CAE software is developed locally to Penguicon, runs on Linux, and is open source under the GPL.
I am sitting back in my chair an...
The world's first nanotech CAD/CAE software is developed locally to Penguicon, runs on Linux, and is open source under the GPL.
I am sitting back in my chair and staring at that sentence on the screen.
Nanorex is a company based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan that employs K. Eric Drexler, the Father of Molecular Nanotechnology, as Chief Technical Advisor. (Dr. Drexler telecommutes from his home in California.) Other advisors include names I recognize from frequent mentions on Christine Peterson's...
and I are talking about how to score the Penguicon game. It's running into the perrennial problem of "what subcultures attend Penguicon, in what numbers, a...
and I are talking about how to score the Penguicon game. It's running into the perrennial problem of "what subcultures attend Penguicon, in what numbers, and what do they want?" Every year we hear complaints from absolutely every quarter, that their contingent was underserved in comparison to the others. All of them. Simultaneously. There's no way to fix that misperception.
Keep in mind, Penguicon itself is not the game. The game is not played while at the convention. The game is essen...
I set off with no land in aim
I did not need to find a shore
I staked out no presumptious claim
I knew the facts, I knew the score
I warned myself I didn't have...
I set off with no land in aim
I did not need to find a shore
I staked out no presumptious claim
I knew the facts, I knew the score
I warned myself I didn't have the right
A realist I styled myself
My self-indulgent dreams were stacked
In harmless jars upon the shelf
I was a pessimist in fact
They have slim chance to come true but they might
My optimistic side compelled
Such boundless luck was not unfair
Experiential facts upheld
The golden continent was there
My sails took wing and lofted as a k...
Head of Programming for Penguicon is my favorite job ever. What it amounts to is "Minister of Fun." I am in charge of:
1. Staying in touch with lots o...
Head of Programming for Penguicon is my favorite job ever. What it amounts to is "Minister of Fun." I am in charge of:
1. Staying in touch with lots of people whose job it is to be fun.
2. Supervising the design and Imagineering of the fun.
3. Playing a board game of my own design.
People think scheduling is the difficult and frustrating part of the job, and I can sympathize with that. But this task has discrete play elements. It's all in how you organize your knowledge, and I know of ...
Remember when Harvey Danger gave us "Little By Little"? Here is another nice quality album whose creator has released it for free download on the inte...
Remember when Harvey Danger gave us "Little By Little"? Here is another nice quality album whose creator has released it for free download on the internet: "I Don't Know What I'm Doing," by Brad Sucks.
I would just like to direct the attention of the entire internet to the chorus of this song (mp3 link).
Comments
rachelann1977 on Jul. 21, 2006 4:10 PM
If only everyone could stop over-reacting just by being reminded they were doing it....
treebones on Jul. 21, 2006 4:23 PM
I...
Have you visited the land where Lojban is spoken? It's called samxarmuj, meaning "computerized imaginary universe". It's a text-based world on the int...
Have you visited the land where Lojban is spoken? It's called samxarmuj, meaning "computerized imaginary universe". It's a text-based world on the internet, where you can operate a character using commands in either English or Lojban: the online software is bilingual. Lojban is like the language of magic in samxarmuj-- speaking it can bring objects into existence and give them form and function.
You don't even need a plane ticket. Just click http://teddyb.org/cgi-bin/moo_ssh.html and u...
Dear Uncle Matt,
_
How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? Please do NOT ask Mr. Owl, as he cheats!!
- Pop Tootsie
_
Dea...
Dear Uncle Matt,
_
How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? Please do NOT ask Mr. Owl, as he cheats!!
- Pop Tootsie
_
Dear Tootsie,
This depends on one's saliva and licking technique. If your saliva has a high viscosity and you use twirling licks, it can be as low as 600, but if your saliva has a low viscosity and you take dainty licks, it can be as high as 800. If you are an expert on licking, or have experienced a vast array of licking techniques, you mig...
It's time once again for the twice-annual "Ask Uncle Matt," the part of the blog in which I delight and confuse you. Past installments are found here ...
It's time once again for the twice-annual "Ask Uncle Matt," the part of the blog in which I delight and confuse you. Past installments are found here and here for your amusement. Send anonymous questions of a humorous or non-humorous nature to matt.mattarn@gmail.com. I suffer from an advanced case of MAS, Male Answer Syndrome. No question is so difficult that I can't make something up.
Comments
treebones on (None)
Who among you is not using the Mozilla Firefox web browser yet? And who among those who are not using it would be willing to be my "Firefox Friend"? I...
Who among you is not using the Mozilla Firefox web browser yet? And who among those who are not using it would be willing to be my "Firefox Friend"? It does not mean you have to switch to Firefox. It means I'll let you know why I think you should. Then, if you download Firefox before September 15, our names will be added to Firefox 2.
Checkout the Firefox Day website.
Comments
rachelann1977 on Jul. 17, 2006 3:30 PM
lol, since I've been meaning to download it anyway, but never seem to ...
I've known for years, but didn't expect her to show up for the meeting of my local Lojban group this week! Who would have thought that she speaks so many words ...
I've known for years, but didn't expect her to show up for the meeting of my local Lojban group this week! Who would have thought that she speaks so many words of Tolkien's Elvish (aka Quenya) and can get up to the whiteboard to scribble formulas for the Monty Hall problem? What fun. The regulars Neil, Jen, Bruce and Sean all managed to attend simultaneously. It was the largest gathering we've had all at once. Let me know if any of you feel an interest, by the way.
I made frozen coffee drinks fo...
has a friend who enjoys posting silly horoscopes from an entertaining astrologer named Brezny. "Free Will Astrology" is a horoscope column that doesn'...
has a friend who enjoys posting silly horoscopes from an entertaining astrologer named Brezny. "Free Will Astrology" is a horoscope column that doesn't treat astrology like prophecy; Brezny gives out generic advice and inspiration that he feels would be good for anyone. It's like receiving a randomized assignment in feeling good and thinking about your life, I guess. laughed when she recognized something in Gemini about the college I attended:
"Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Florida's Pe...
AP Wire: Google plans to open Ann Arbor-area facility, hire 1,000
... to handle AdWords, their pay-per-click advertising system. It would not be surprising if t...
AP Wire: Google plans to open Ann Arbor-area facility, hire 1,000
... to handle AdWords, their pay-per-click advertising system. It would not be surprising if this were also related to Google's operation to digitize the library of the University of Michigan and make it searchable.
Comments
zifferent on Jul. 11, 2006 8:28 PM
I also wonder if Proquest (they do publication archiving) fits into their plans if at all?
rainbowgnosis on Jul. 11, 2006 11:14 PM
Heh... I used to work in the digitizing p...
(who some of you know and who many more of you doubtless will meet before long) came from Texas to visit those she knows in Michigan. I like this photo! We took...
(who some of you know and who many more of you doubtless will meet before long) came from Texas to visit those she knows in Michigan. I like this photo! We took it while we were hanging out with after the writer's workshop at 's house.
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Please join me in convincing a stubborn Hungarian who is also a fabulous author (Steven Brust) to start accepting paypal donations on his website.
1. (optional)...
Please join me in convincing a stubborn Hungarian who is also a fabulous author (Steven Brust) to start accepting paypal donations on his website.
1. (optional) read the explanation of the reason/philosophy behind this: http://netmouse.livejournal.com/216556.html
2. If you have a paypal account, Paypal $2 (or more) to skzb -@- dreamcafe.com (take out the spaces and the dashes to use as an email address)
Note: please use the subject line "So there..." (feel free to add your own comment)...
One of my roommates did something to my alarm clock so it would allow them to sleep in this weekend. So, I overslept this morning. Pulling out of the driveway i...
One of my roommates did something to my alarm clock so it would allow them to sleep in this weekend. So, I overslept this morning. Pulling out of the driveway in my haste, I knocked a power outlet box off of the house. My driver's-side mirror bent all the way back; fortunately it sprung back into position when released and seems none the worse for wear. There are only scrapes on the car. But I will be replacing that outlet box.
Comments
stormgren on Jul. 6, 2006 4:52 PM
Your roommates need a LA...
I got almost no sleep last night, feeling down and alone. When we woke up, A. asked me what was wrong and I gave them a little heart-to-heart. They understand m...
I got almost no sleep last night, feeling down and alone. When we woke up, A. asked me what was wrong and I gave them a little heart-to-heart. They understand my desire to be greeted and won't take me for granted. They said the reason they left me alone was that they didn't want to poke me with a stick while I had a hair up my butt. They didn't know this was contributing to the problem causing me to be upset in the first place. A. was worried that E. and I both were getting cold feet. I thought ...
I have higher Google PageRank than any other Matt Arnold on the web except for the fictional character in "Big Trouble". Ironically, by linking to thi...
I have higher Google PageRank than any other Matt Arnold on the web except for the fictional character in "Big Trouble". Ironically, by linking to this, I'm exacerbating the situation.
Surfing the search results far enough, you will come to a piece of amateur avante-garde experimental music with a title that happens to contain my name. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: "Disaster In Matt Arnold's Pants" by MC Iedh.
Comments
Anonymous on Feb. 9, 2010 5:37 PM
The Matt Arn...
The annual picnic of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association, of which I am a board member, was as much fun as ever. I took registrations for ConVersation (On...
The annual picnic of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association, of which I am a board member, was as much fun as ever. I took registrations for ConVersation (Only a month left! Preregister now to choose your own honorary ConCom title! Bribe us $5 to be a guest of honor!) and distributed flyers for Penguicon and Youmacon. We got to meet a newcomer named Alex Duncan, who is very cool, and whom you will be seeing more of because we immediately invited him to the ConFusion programming meeting which ...
I haven't posted about Un-Churches in a while, but I know there are a few of you interested in experiments in secular alternatives to religion, so I'll update y...
I haven't posted about Un-Churches in a while, but I know there are a few of you interested in experiments in secular alternatives to religion, so I'll update you on where things stand. I don't think Universism is waning in popularity as a philosophy, but the movement to organize under this label and cement it in public awareness seems to be folding due to some kind of bipolar enthusiasm swing on the part of the organizers that Ford handed it off to. Some of you met Ford at Tuesdays at Tio's whe...
Why do I keep reading PCCBoard*? I'm the board's resident infidel. I don't post all that much anymore, but when someone started a thread (click here) to wish me...
Why do I keep reading PCCBoard*? I'm the board's resident infidel. I don't post all that much anymore, but when someone started a thread (click here) to wish me a happy birthday, and dozens of members chimed in, I felt like it would almost be rude not to participate.
Eventually, the results became predictably uncivil. Several people baited me, and I finally responded to one of them in a manner which I felt was non-inflammatory. This one was a suggestion that I should thank God for the good circu...
Is there signifigant climate change? If so, are humans causing it? If so, is it catastrophic? If so, can it be averted? If so, why will a given plan work?
It bo...
Is there signifigant climate change? If so, are humans causing it? If so, is it catastrophic? If so, can it be averted? If so, why will a given plan work?
It bothers me very much that my current knowledge of the facts about human-caused climate change is no better than my knowledge about evolution was in the days when I accepted Creationism as actual science. I want to attack my area of ignorance, since the ramifications are important enough that a strong opinion is going to be morally required ...
Reason #217 to read Eliezer Yudkowski's website.
"I am Eliezer of Borg. You have the option of being assimilated."
Q. Is resistance futile?
A. We are ...
Reason #217 to read Eliezer Yudkowski's website.
"I am Eliezer of Borg. You have the option of being assimilated."
Q. Is resistance futile?
A. We are happy to help you with all forms of futile resistance. We regret that, to ensure the safety of others, non-futile resistance is not possible at this time.
Q. Why are you Friendly?
A. Selfishness is irrelevant.
Q. Do I have to dress like that?
A. Social conformity is irrelevant.
Q. Will I be destroyed if I do not surrender?
A. The Friendly...
Here's a link to a website of futuristic projects of a vacation destination company. There's a city on a ship, a orbiting resort, and an undersea hotel.
more
Here's a link to a website of futuristic projects of a vacation destination company. There's a city on a ship, a orbiting resort, and an undersea hotel.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTSqnyt16j0
This is a YouTube streaming video of James Hall from the cable program FOCUS interviewing me about Penguicon, the sci...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTSqnyt16j0
This is a YouTube streaming video of James Hall from the cable program FOCUS interviewing me about Penguicon, the science fiction and open-source-software convention, including footage of liquid nitrogen ice cream and the marble roller coaster construction set. This segment is posted with full permission of the FOCUS program.
Comments
none
The village of Hell, Michigan threw a party yesterday because the date was 06/06/06. My friends and I visited, and found it to be strangely worthwhile.
It's a l...
The village of Hell, Michigan threw a party yesterday because the date was 06/06/06. My friends and I visited, and found it to be strangely worthwhile.
It's a large clearing in a forest. I had to drive all over Hell's half acre to get there. The road to Hell is hemmed in on both sides with trees, and on 6/6/6, it was also lined with cars on either side for a couple of miles. The townsfolk clearly were insufficiently prepared; they did not expect tens of thousands of people to break Hell wide ope...
I have a new, continuing source of supplementary income, cleaning up pieces of Illustrator vector art which my new client, a professional designer, originally c...
I have a new, continuing source of supplementary income, cleaning up pieces of Illustrator vector art which my new client, a professional designer, originally created in Flash and merely exported and/or auto-traced. He doesn't know Adobe Illustrator.
I purchased an illustration of his through a super-affordable royalty-free art site, iStockphoto to use as the background for a flyer. It wasn't possible to tell from the preview image that his workmanship was sloppy. I improved the art and emailed ...
Goatchurch on the MundaneSF blog posted about his skepticism of molecular nanotechnology. He asked why we think a self-propelled miniature machine can exist, wh...
Goatchurch on the MundaneSF blog posted about his skepticism of molecular nanotechnology. He asked why we think a self-propelled miniature machine can exist, when we still don't have a robot that can vacuum the living room. (Given the existence of Roomba, that's another claim which, in itself, I would highly debate.) Here is the response I put there.
The failure of modern robotics is a software problem. But whether or not that is solvable is not relevant to nanotechnology, which rarely considers...
Click here to read a story titled "The Purpose-Driven Life-Takers". It's on Talk To Action, a site about resisting religious Dominionism. This is thei...
Click here to read a story titled "The Purpose-Driven Life-Takers". It's on Talk To Action, a site about resisting religious Dominionism. This is their synopsis of the new video game based on the Left Behind books:
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the...
On the way here, the gas, speed and heat gauges dropped to the bottom and stopped working. Then the needles crawled back up. My car stalled as I entered the par...
On the way here, the gas, speed and heat gauges dropped to the bottom and stopped working. Then the needles crawled back up. My car stalled as I entered the parking garage this morning. I had to push it into the parking space. It wouldn't start again. I'm considering getting a bicycle and taking the Telegraph bus. Anybody want to sell me a bicycle? In the meantime, I've got to figure out how to get home.
Comments
none
I should have volunteered to be a gopher at Marcon. I was in the sort of state of mind that required a project to work on. As it was, I became bored and didn't ...
I should have volunteered to be a gopher at Marcon. I was in the sort of state of mind that required a project to work on. As it was, I became bored and didn't make many friends. I kept thinking about what I would be doing if I were at home, such as playing with the ferret which 's friend Pat dropped off for the weekend; or working on Penguicon; or the sculpture; or my new Lojban website. I ended up in the film room watching movies to distract myself, which is a bad sign. I'll be sure to keep th...
My Dodge Neon can still get me to work, but it's clearly on its last legs with interacting issues between brakes, electricity, overheating and a slipping transm...
My Dodge Neon can still get me to work, but it's clearly on its last legs with interacting issues between brakes, electricity, overheating and a slipping transmission. I'm looking for a $500 junker to drive to work with for a few months while I save up for a real replacement. Please let me know if you see one.
So much for the Washington DC vacation with the family in July.
Comments
zencuppa on May. 30, 2006 2:21 PM
Nope, you can't have my $500 car ;-)
It was great seeing you at Marcon . . .
tw...
I need a cheap moped ASAP. My car's transmission held out all the way home from Columbus in the "2" position of the gearshift because we didn't let it...
I need a cheap moped ASAP. My car's transmission held out all the way home from Columbus in the "2" position of the gearshift because we didn't let it drop below third gear. As soon as we got off the highway here in town, it refused to shift up into 3rd under any circumstances. We had to turn on the heater full blast to keep the engine from overheating. I called my family, but their vehicles are all in use tomorrow. Reluctantly, I had to admit to myself I will not be capable of picking...
For the third time in as many years, I am coming to you now from Java's Cyber Espresso Bar in the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, home of Origins and Marcon.
My car ...
For the third time in as many years, I am coming to you now from Java's Cyber Espresso Bar in the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, home of Origins and Marcon.
My car developed brake and transmission problems on the way to Marcon. Fortunately Freon is here and can advise me. and I will probably travel back home with the gear shift in the "2" position. And my brakes, although grinding horribly because of a broken pad or something, do not need to be changed until after I get back.
The conventio...
MIT's Technology Review has a video documentary series titled "The Impact of Emerging Technologies" which is exclusively online. It's really interesti...
MIT's Technology Review has a video documentary series titled "The Impact of Emerging Technologies" which is exclusively online. It's really interesting! It covers stem cells; robotic prosthetics with a mind/machine interface; artificial polymer muscle; computer interpretation of body language; nano-scale valves; and more.
The video about using lab yeast instead of lab mice for a 50,000-fold decrease in cost and slowness of new drugs showed them using robot laboratory systems. It remin...
Tomorrow, May 25, 2006, carry a towel with you all day to commemorate Towel Day, a day of remembrance for Douglas Adams.
Comments
rachelann1977 on May. 24, 200...
Tomorrow, May 25, 2006, carry a towel with you all day to commemorate Towel Day, a day of remembrance for Douglas Adams.
Comments
rachelann1977 on May. 24, 2006 10:41 PM
I love Douglas Adams, but I don't know if I can do this at my current job. Maybe I'll camouflage it in a paper bag or something, but I'll still look funny carrying that bag around with me all day....
zillafan on May. 24, 2006 11:18 PM
If I am without my towel I will at least be sure to wear, and be preoccupied with, my digital...
When we had Chris DiBona from Google as Penguicon's Guest of Honor, I hoped to have a panel about Google in science fiction. For instance, there is a piece of F...
When we had Chris DiBona from Google as Penguicon's Guest of Honor, I hoped to have a panel about Google in science fiction. For instance, there is a piece of Flash animation science fiction about Google's next ten years. "Turing's Cathedral" is a non-fiction essay by George Dyson about his visit to the Googleplex, and it gets very science fictional at the end. One of the pieces I remembered but could no longer find was this one-page super-short story: The Nine Billion Names of God by ...
My Linux box is still set up to the resolution or refresh rate of that monitor which burned out last week. On every other monitor I use it with, it looks fine t...
My Linux box is still set up to the resolution or refresh rate of that monitor which burned out last week. On every other monitor I use it with, it looks fine through the booting phase showing the Ubuntu logo above a scrolling list of things that are happening. But just when it is about to get to the desktop, the image shuts off and is replaced with the words "OUT OF SYNC".
I already tried booting from a Live CD. I have several dozen of direct-from-Canonical officially-stamped Ubuntu B...
Every time I go to a convention, there is usually an anime room. Sitting in there watching the otaku enjoy subtitled animation from Japan, I am impressed by how...
Every time I go to a convention, there is usually an anime room. Sitting in there watching the otaku enjoy subtitled animation from Japan, I am impressed by how powerfully this medium spreads a foreign language through other cultures. I think back to the anime conventions I've visited and consider the classes on Japanese that they teach there! An entire subculture exists online, called "fansubbing", for amateur hobbyists to translate Japanese culture into English and other languages be...
This project sat idle for more than half a year while I was busy with other projects that were more time-sensitive. Click the "sculpture" tag at the b...
This project sat idle for more than half a year while I was busy with other projects that were more time-sensitive. Click the "sculpture" tag at the bottom of this entry to read the past blog entries on this topic. The silicone rubber mold is now finished on my maquette of Linux-Tan.
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Penguicon's tech guest of honor in 2007 will be Bruce Schneier, security guru. I was mentioning to Eric Raymond that I will be Head of Programming for Penguicon...
Penguicon's tech guest of honor in 2007 will be Bruce Schneier, security guru. I was mentioning to Eric Raymond that I will be Head of Programming for Penguicon this year and looked forward to putting Bruce Schneier on panels about viruses, spyware and rootkits. Eric said something to the effect of not being interested in closed source software. I can't remember the exact sentence but it may have been referring to something to do with security programs that people use to protect their computers,...
Google just bought my favorite 3D drawing program, SketchUp, and made it available for free to everyone. This is the easiest and most intuitive way to create 3D...
Google just bought my favorite 3D drawing program, SketchUp, and made it available for free to everyone. This is the easiest and most intuitive way to create 3D models, with the possible exception of Second Life. It comes with a tutorial that will have you making models in no time. I used this program to create this illustration of a space station which I use as a visual aid to explain Lojban sentence structures.
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Good news! The smoke and the "pop-hiss" didn't come from the computer, it came from the monitor! The computer's fine. I have no shortage of monitors. ...
Good news! The smoke and the "pop-hiss" didn't come from the computer, it came from the monitor! The computer's fine. I have no shortage of monitors. None. In fact, a dozen monitors were deliberately abandoned at Penguicon. If you're coming to the Stilyagi party at our house on Saturday the 13th, maybe I'll give you one. Especially if we can sign you up to be on the convention committee for ConFusion 2007!
Comments
charlie-ihsan on May. 5, 2006 5:21 PM
Yayy!!!! Whooo hooooo!!! Whooddl...
Last night I followed a burning smell to the area of my computers. The Windows box responded when I nudged the mouse, and was in working order, but the screen o...
Last night I followed a burning smell to the area of my computers. The Windows box responded when I nudged the mouse, and was in working order, but the screen of the Linux box remained blank. A minute later, there was a brief sound ("fssss") like a sparkler being lit on Independence Day. The power supply still lights up when I turn the computer on, so apparently it's not that component. But the computer doesn't boot.
Comments
drkelso on May. 3, 2006 4:58 PM
Heh. Your power supply just...
I hadn't previously heard of a few of the speakers at Stanford's Singularity Summit, but I know every single one of the following eight names, and it's the most...
I hadn't previously heard of a few of the speakers at Stanford's Singularity Summit, but I know every single one of the following eight names, and it's the most exciting lineup of Guests of Honor ever. It's interesting to finally find out from their photos what some of them look like.
- Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, author of "The Singularity Is Near"
- Douglas Hofstadter, cognitive scientist, author of "Gödel, Escher, Bach"
- K. Eric Drexler, nanotechnology pioneer, auth...
The social bookmarking service del.icio.us became even more social by introducing a feature that I've wanted for a long time. They call it networking, but what ...
The social bookmarking service del.icio.us became even more social by introducing a feature that I've wanted for a long time. They call it networking, but what it amounts to is just like a Livejournal Friends List, except it's for your latest bookmarked web links instead of blog entries. The "social" aspect of del.icio.us used to be that you could give other people a link to your bookmarks, like this: http://del.icio.us./Matt_Arnold But now you don't have to visit all your friends' pag...
Due to a bizarrely over-sensitive "terrornoia", the Livonia Holiday Inn was uncomfortable with our panelists and attendees talking about war in an ope...
Due to a bizarrely over-sensitive "terrornoia", the Livonia Holiday Inn was uncomfortable with our panelists and attendees talking about war in an open area during our convention. The discussion panel about "Warfare in Science Fiction" was located in an open area across from Alison Looney's Stuffed Animal Tea Party. So Dave Klecha came up with the idea to substitute "tea party" for "war". The panelists, John Scalzi, M. Keaton, Jeff Beeler, and Barbara Trum...
Sorry for having put such a lot in this entry that wasn't behind a link. Livejournal broke their interface today with a new text editor system that takes contro...
Sorry for having put such a lot in this entry that wasn't behind a link. Livejournal broke their interface today with a new text editor system that takes control away from the user. When I click the "Source" button to directly modify the source, the system changes what I do. It literally wouldn't let me put it behind a link. But now I've figured out how to post source text directly, so I've posted it again with a correct link. I'll keep this entry here to preserve the comments to it.
C...
There are only a few hours before the Thursday night dinner for concom and Guests of Honor of Penguicon. I'm excited! I've confirmed that the Chaos Toy and prog...
There are only a few hours before the Thursday night dinner for concom and Guests of Honor of Penguicon. I'm excited! I've confirmed that the Chaos Toy and program book have been delivered to the hotel. The pocket program awaits me at a nearby Kinko's. Then I need to buy a bow tie at the mall next door.
Sadly, due to a last-minute schedule change the Looneys won't arrive until tomorrow. This means I have more time to think of an idea of a gift to give them.
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none
One of you pointed me to the new Google Calendar web application. I like it. Is anyone else among you using it?
Now if only it could export the calendar and the...
One of you pointed me to the new Google Calendar web application. I like it. Is anyone else among you using it?
Now if only it could export the calendar and the Gmail contacts for my handheld computer, I'll be all set.
Comments
tlatoani on Apr. 19, 2006 6:12 PM
Hell, no. Give Google all my schedule information for them to retain forever and use however they feel like it (or cough up to the government when asked)?
rachelann1977 on (None)
wolfger on Apr. 21, 2006 3:14 AM
Dude... If you're that ...
I'm off work today on medical leave, and working on the Penguicon program book. I use my Ubuntu Linux desktop computer for web browsing, instant messages, music...
I'm off work today on medical leave, and working on the Penguicon program book. I use my Ubuntu Linux desktop computer for web browsing, instant messages, music-- everything but games and graphic design software. I dropped the folder "My Music" into Totem Music Player so that it would queue up all the music files in my entire collection to play for me randomly while I lie in bed recuperating and working on the program book on a laptop. I liked one song in particular and went to find it...
Here's a follow-up to the "War On April Fools' Day" story I posted about last week: Authorities have decided not to bring charges against the teenage ...
Here's a follow-up to the "War On April Fools' Day" story I posted about last week: Authorities have decided not to bring charges against the teenage girls who put up Super Mario Bros. question mark blocks which a bomb squad responded to. Click here to read the story in the Akron Beacon Journal.
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The Logical Language Group received an email from a gentleman in France who is with L’Union Française Onixienne. An AltaVista babelfish translation of their web...
The Logical Language Group received an email from a gentleman in France who is with L’Union Française Onixienne. An AltaVista babelfish translation of their website yields the following:
The French Onixian Union is an association which has the aim of promoting, adapting, and developing the creation of a federal State, called "Terran Federation", including all the current Sovereign states such as the Eurasiatic, Oceanic, American, African countries ... such as recommends the French auth...
Last year conservatives made a big deal about a supposed "War On Christmas" because some private business choose of their own free will not to partici...
Last year conservatives made a big deal about a supposed "War On Christmas" because some private business choose of their own free will not to participate in publicly decorating for the Christian holiday. There is a certain kind of Christian who feels persecuted if cities don't pay out my tax dollars to display Christmas creches on public streets and squares that are paid for by my tax dollars.
But now witness the terrornoia reaction when some girls did a cool and fun art project for A...
For those who may not know, EPCOT (formerly known as Epcot Center) is part of the Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida. The "giant golf ball", ...
For those who may not know, EPCOT (formerly known as Epcot Center) is part of the Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida. The "giant golf ball", as it is sometimes known from its flagship globe, is the only permanent World's Fair of human knowledge, technology, art and travel. This was where I first saw computers, videophones, cell phones, hydroponics and Segways. Under the username "epkat" I've been posting a lot to EPCOT Central, a blog for fans of the Disney park to p...
A fan scanned and posted a story from the great science fiction comic book Transmetropolitan and instead of issuing a cease-and-desist, Warren Ellis linked to i...
A fan scanned and posted a story from the great science fiction comic book Transmetropolitan and instead of issuing a cease-and-desist, Warren Ellis linked to it and told everybody to go read it.
"Another Cold Morning" is a story about cryonics that was told with unusual warmth and sensitivity for this series. The author's sociological critiques would ordinarily be delivered with a sledgehammer of hilariously irreverent wit. But for all its compassion and humanity, it's still not works...
I have wanted a vasectomy for a few years. I had a consultation this morning with a doctor who performs the procedure. I was touched by his quaint concern about...
I have wanted a vasectomy for a few years. I had a consultation this morning with a doctor who performs the procedure. I was touched by his quaint concern about snipping my family values.
I know two guys who are adopted, and one of them was found in a garbage can. So-- point number one-- the idea that one will inevitably love one's own children just because they are one's own genetics is demonstrably untrue. Deliberately getting pregnant is rolling the dice, and ghawd help you if the dice come u...
requested the English version of "I Am A Little Teapot of Borg" as a ringtone. I translated "I'm A Little Teapot" into Lojban, and this soun...
requested the English version of "I Am A Little Teapot of Borg" as a ringtone. I translated "I'm A Little Teapot" into Lojban, and this sound file (click here to download the MP3) is what I got when I translated it back into English. I'm not sure who laughs harder at this, or . It might just be funnier than the Sesame Street theme song translated into Klingon. (I order you to immediately tell me the way to Sesame Street!) Resistance is futile. You will hear me shout. You will...
I've finished my artwork for the t-shirt for Penguicon 4.0, which is less than a month away. Looney Labs likes the Mad Lab Rabbit Tux and is displaying it on th...
I've finished my artwork for the t-shirt for Penguicon 4.0, which is less than a month away. Looney Labs likes the Mad Lab Rabbit Tux and is displaying it on their site. I've put the complete t-shirt design behind the cut.
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Time to follow up on yesterday's blog entry. There are several things I told the reporter which I consider important that were didn't make it into the article, ...
Time to follow up on yesterday's blog entry. There are several things I told the reporter which I consider important that were didn't make it into the article, presumably because he didn't want to write a philosophical editorial about the society we live in.
was correct that the blood supply to Pensacola Christian College is the textbook business for which I and other students provided cheap labor in exchange for a worthless education from the crackpot fringe. PCC is the tip of an iceberg. That ...
I was interviewed for an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Click here to read it. It's a shocking expose, although I expected it to be even more sho...
I was interviewed for an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Click here to read it. It's a shocking expose, although I expected it to be even more shocking. My comments were edited to sound much, much more sympathetic to the school and its followers than I am. It's appropriate that the reporter keep a journalistically neutral tone and let the facts speak of the outrage for themselves.
Many of the prospective students will look at the cult depicted in the article as an acceptable or eve...
// Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
// by William Shakespeare
// ported to ActionScript 2.0 by Satori Canton
//
// Original poem can be viewed...
// Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
// by William Shakespeare
// ported to ActionScript 2.0 by Satori Canton
//
// Original poem can be viewed at:
// http://plagiarist.com/poetry/915/
var summer:Object = {};
var thee:Object = {};
summer.name = "Summer Day";
thee.name = "Thee";
summer.lovelyness = 9;
thee.lovelyness = 10;
summer.temperature = 98;
thee.temperature = 98.6;
summer.lease = new Date(2006, 7, 31).getTime() - new Date(2006, 5, 1).getTime();
thee.lea...
lo pu'u farlu goi ko'a tolpanra le ko'a nu suksa sisti kei le tolbanli
lo nunji'e cu te jivna se kelci be lo tolbanli lisri .e lo banli skami bo pixra
lenu cpac...
lo pu'u farlu goi ko'a tolpanra le ko'a nu suksa sisti kei le tolbanli
lo nunji'e cu te jivna se kelci be lo tolbanli lisri .e lo banli skami bo pixra
lenu cpacu leti skina poi so'iroinai ka djuno ku'o tai lo vidni vreji cu nandu
Comments
none
Listening to science fiction author Bruce Sterling's speech at SXSW (MP3 link), I was struck by how similar it was to the sermons I grew up with. Except, of cou...
Listening to science fiction author Bruce Sterling's speech at SXSW (MP3 link), I was struck by how similar it was to the sermons I grew up with. Except, of course, that it was eloquent, intelligent and relevant-- and I can put it on pause or turn it off. Nevertheless, a speech is a speech and they often use the same techniques of moralizing, mythmaking and humor. A transcript does not convey the adoration and indignation and scorn which alternate in Sterling's voice.
The moralizing is all there...
In the jboselkei game, someone translated "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" as {le te frigau be lei drata prenu bei ko cu simsa le s...
In the jboselkei game, someone translated "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" as {le te frigau be lei drata prenu bei ko cu simsa le seldji be do be'o te frigau be do bei lei drata prenu}. I am going to be amazed if we can't do better than that! The Lojban babelfish auto-translates it as follows:
[1(2[simsa1 (similar thing(s)) :] le the {3te frigau experienced thing(s) be (4[frigau2 (experience-r(s)) :] lei between them the (5drata different [type-of] prenu person(s))5)...
In [this video, some guy persecutes his neighborhood in a Link costume accompanied by Legend of Zelda sound effects.](
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?...
In [this video, some guy persecutes his neighborhood in a Link costume accompanied by Legend of Zelda sound effects.](
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=16297) No shrubs or flowerpots are safe. I'm still laughing out loud at this. The wonderfulness overwhelms me. "YOU GOT PANTS!"
The classic games Metroid and Ghosts 'n Goblins have been hacked to replace the main characters with the equally-classic hero Megaman. Yes, if you played Megaman as a kid you guessed it: when you defeat A...
One of the interesting things about instant messenger is that when a conversation starts on one computer (or on my mobile phone) and is continued on another, th...
One of the interesting things about instant messenger is that when a conversation starts on one computer (or on my mobile phone) and is continued on another, the chat logs are out of context and sequence, and make no sense. My computer at home crashed a couple of weeks ago, and I was able to recover the chat log data as an archive. I wonder what I can do to preserve it in a searchable form? And how can I back it up, or synchronize the logs of clients on separate computers? I like the fact that G...
I've dreamed of an input device like the TactaPad for years. It resembles a little overhead projector. The camera on the stem is watching your hands and portray...
I've dreamed of an input device like the TactaPad for years. It resembles a little overhead projector. The camera on the stem is watching your hands and portraying a grey transparent sillhouette of them on the screen so that you don't have to look at your hands. It's a touch-sensitive tablet that can detect the touch of all of your fingers simultaneously, not just one point, and can detect differences in pressure and velocity. The surface gives you force feedback sensations.
Watching the demo mo...
There's a fascinating essay about the real reason there are hardly any women in science. The answer it gives is that science is an undesirable career, not in th...
There's a fascinating essay about the real reason there are hardly any women in science. The answer it gives is that science is an undesirable career, not in the best interest of those intelligent enough to do it, and men are in it because they're kids who never grew up.
"Some scientists are like kids who never grow up. They love what they do, are excited by the possibilities of their research, and wear a big smile most days. Although these people are, by Boston standards, ridiculously poor...
Other than the middle two lines, it reminds me of a committee for an all-volunteer not-for-profit science fiction convention:
Things fall apart; the center cann...
Other than the middle two lines, it reminds me of a committee for an all-volunteer not-for-profit science fiction convention:
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood dimm'd tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
-- from The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats
Huge amounts of work are put in all year by very tired and talented organiz...
I'm currently computer-impaired.
My handheld reset today and lost all my data. I haven't hotsynced it for about a week because my Windows computer won't work. S...
I'm currently computer-impaired.
My handheld reset today and lost all my data. I haven't hotsynced it for about a week because my Windows computer won't work. So that's a week's worth of address book lost-- including the info I put in there while moving to Redford-- and a week's worth of testing and drilling in Lojban flashcards lost.
The partition on my Windows computer is corrupt. I've been using Linux in the meantime. says the data can be recovered but the hard drive can't be salvaged. has a ...
Oops, I forgot to post directions to my house today! It's 23090 Majestic Street, Oak Park, MI 48237. Google maps link. The party's started, but we've still got ...
Oops, I forgot to post directions to my house today! It's 23090 Majestic Street, Oak Park, MI 48237. Google maps link. The party's started, but we've still got some chairs unoccupied and you can join us!
Comments
jeffreyab on Feb. 24, 2006 1:05 AM
Happy celebration by the way.
rmeidaking on Feb. 24, 2006 1:03 PM
I'm sorry I missed it. I had hopes of getting over for it, which evaporated when my son's social group finale lasted until 8:30 pm. Kind of late to head for Oak Park on a School Night....
I turned 1,000,000,000 seconds old at 4 AM this morning. was originally planning to call me at 4 AM and wish me a happy birthsecond during the actual second, bu...
I turned 1,000,000,000 seconds old at 4 AM this morning. was originally planning to call me at 4 AM and wish me a happy birthsecond during the actual second, but in light of changed circumstances we decided it was not a good idea for the phone to ring in the house at that hour.
Last night I was his only co-host on The Toad Elevating Moment comedy music internet radio show, and he decided it would be the Matt Episode this time. So we played all the neat music that I have found available for free ...
Remember, the party to celebrate the 1,000,000,000th second since my birth will be tomorrow evening! 23090 Majestic St, Oak Park MI 48237. Here's a Google Maps ...
Remember, the party to celebrate the 1,000,000,000th second since my birth will be tomorrow evening! 23090 Majestic St, Oak Park MI 48237. Here's a Google Maps link. Show up as early as 7:00 PM. See you there!
Comments
none
My parents have a pillow on which are embroidered the words, "Real love stories don't have endings." Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But they do have...
My parents have a pillow on which are embroidered the words, "Real love stories don't have endings." Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But they do have sequels.
It looks like the sequel to the story of Rachel and I has come to an end. We were together for a total of ten years. It lasted a few years longer than we expected it to when we got divorced, but I was beginning to think that it might linger in a comfortably extended denouement for the rest of our lives.
Even now, who knows what ...
Thanks for alerting me to this, ! It's only a matter of time before and I can explore the online virtual world of Second Life simultaneously, side by side. A ve...
Thanks for alerting me to this, ! It's only a matter of time before and I can explore the online virtual world of Second Life simultaneously, side by side. A version of the SL client program that can run on my Linux computer is under development-- long rumored of-- and has now been revealed. Linden Labs made a early and incomplete Alpha version of the software available for download and bug-testing.
I've downloaded it, and much to my surprise, the license says it contains source code. It also sa...
linked to MP3s of songs from Robocop the Musical, by the same people who did a musical about Silence of the Lambs. Now I will listen to it.
*listens*
What the ....
linked to MP3s of songs from Robocop the Musical, by the same people who did a musical about Silence of the Lambs. Now I will listen to it.
*listens*
What the ... ? It's a ... they ... huh?
There are no words.
Comments
none
Good gravy, I am swarmed with chat messages from my friends who have simultaneously discovered that Gmail is porting Google Talk directly into their Gmail brows...
Good gravy, I am swarmed with chat messages from my friends who have simultaneously discovered that Gmail is porting Google Talk directly into their Gmail browser window. I knew about it first, but no matter how often I refresh my browser, the feature hasn't propagated to my account yet. In the middle of a huge Gmail chatfest, I'm still using the desktop client.
The nice thing is, though, that they will finally get on Google Talk! I love Google Talk. One of the unfortunate things about other ins...
joined us Saturday evening for a few hours of the weekend-long Star Wars marathon, but had to go back home. Her attendance was limited because of the weather. T...
joined us Saturday evening for a few hours of the weekend-long Star Wars marathon, but had to go back home. Her attendance was limited because of the weather. The weather also caused power outages, but 's parents house has an emergency generator that instantly kicks in. Sunday morning I got up early again and cooked waffles, bacon and eggs for everybody. Since all the music they had in the house was techno or polka, I had made sure to grab an Eri Sugai CD from 's car. Nice soft morning music tha...
The first day of the Star Wars marathon weekend was fun, with me, , , , , Chris, and Katherine in the audience so far. 's surround sound system is like being in...
The first day of the Star Wars marathon weekend was fun, with me, , , , , Chris, and Katherine in the audience so far. 's surround sound system is like being in a theater, and having a projector is really cool. Call or e-mail me if you want directions.
kicked off with the Akira Kurosawa film Hidden Fortress, and we agreed it's a really enjoyable movie. We also watched the interview on the DVD in which George Lucas explains the techniques and elements from Hidden Fortress that influenced him on t...
When I was a kid I used to watch Will Vinton Claymation films and specials every week, forwarding with the remote one frame at a time, making a half-hour piece ...
When I was a kid I used to watch Will Vinton Claymation films and specials every week, forwarding with the remote one frame at a time, making a half-hour piece last hours as I studied the animating decisions the sculptors had made. A few days ago, Will Vinton Claymation's overlooked masterpiece, "The Adventures of Mark Twain," was been released on DVD. This is going right onto my wish list.
As is typical of the Vinton studios (as opposed to Aardman's Wallace and Gromit/Chicken Run), th...
What fun. Check out this business selling photos of Jesus. I am almost reminded of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park.
Step 1: "Trust the Lord to guide ...
What fun. Check out this business selling photos of Jesus. I am almost reminded of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park.
Step 1: "Trust the Lord to guide me" (Direct quote.)
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
I wonder if this story about the Catholic Church copyrighting the Pope's words indicates that they might start trademarking Jesus some day and put this couple out of business.
Besides, if copyright is now 70 years plus the life of the author, and Jesus rose from the dead, doesn't Jesus ...
One of the last comments to yesterday's entry was an illustration of the problem. My buddy is a Buddhist, and he pointed out that not all religion is evil. Whic...
One of the last comments to yesterday's entry was an illustration of the problem. My buddy is a Buddhist, and he pointed out that not all religion is evil. Which, technically, is true. Take the non-supernatural practice of meditation. When it has no content of petitioning a supernatural being, calling meditation religious seems like a category error to me. Most of my problem stems from lazy, politically-incorrect verbal habits. I just don't regard a decent non-supernaturalist, such as many Buddh...
The disadvantage of being one of the good guys is that you have to work within certain rules. When you see a change that needs to be made for the better, someti...
The disadvantage of being one of the good guys is that you have to work within certain rules. When you see a change that needs to be made for the better, sometimes you can't acheive it because it would mean doing something wrong. This compromise is an age-old tale. The effort to make the world of strangers into a better place, and the effort to do direct, first-hand good to the actual people you meet and talk to, sometimes conflict. For instance, how many people have invented cures for horrible ...
's dad told her that she'll be a billion seconds old in August. That means I'll be a billion seconds old sometime in February. I would like to calculate when th...
's dad told her that she'll be a billion seconds old in August. That means I'll be a billion seconds old sometime in February. I would like to calculate when that would be, so that if scheduling permits I can throw a Billionth-Second party this month. I was born at two in the morning on June 17, 1974. Is there a website that will calculate it for me conveniently?
Comments
murphyw on Jan. 31, 2006 3:22 PM
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/birthday.html
and if you google "1 billion seconds in ...
I renewed my driver's license this year, and was supposed to renew my tags at the same time. For some reason, when I went to the DMV I only did one of them, and...
I renewed my driver's license this year, and was supposed to renew my tags at the same time. For some reason, when I went to the DMV I only did one of them, and could have sworn I did both. In August I got pulled over for expired tags. I had traffic court today, in which I got my fine reduced. So, I wore a suit and tie.
In retrospect, I should have not left the suit and tie on when I went to work. Several people in my office asked if I had an interview for a job somewhere else. I certainly hope ...
I have been thinking about a conversation with a group of friends, which turned to the topic of wisdom. Someone shook his head and solemnly intoned, "I am ...
I have been thinking about a conversation with a group of friends, which turned to the topic of wisdom. Someone shook his head and solemnly intoned, "I am not a wise man." In the pause that followed, I should have disagreed and said "results speak for themselves." If you knew who it was, in what setting, and what he was doing at the time, you would know why this was obvious-- I don't know why his statement didn't elicit a laugh. What is "wisdom", if it's something h...
I did something wrong, and would like to apologize for it publicly, in addition to my private apology. But I'm not sure if the party involved wants me to name h...
I did something wrong, and would like to apologize for it publicly, in addition to my private apology. But I'm not sure if the party involved wants me to name him. What I did was probably legal, but ethically questionable. When I translated an artist's song into Lojban and put it into the Lojban podcast, I didn't wait for him to return my e-mail in which I asked for his permission. I had mis-typed his e-mail address.
Seeing that it was credit-attributed, noncommercial, educational, fair use, and...
KurzweilAI.net features an MP3 and lyrics, by Charlie Kam, to a Transhumanist rewrite of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General" from Gilbert ...
KurzweilAI.net features an MP3 and lyrics, by Charlie Kam, to a Transhumanist rewrite of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". It's goofy and delightful proof that we Extropians, Transhumanists and Singularitarians do not necessarily treat our ideas with a cultish seriousness.
(As if we needed any further proof of that than Charlie Stross' satirical Tough Guide To The Singularity.)
Comments
Anonymous on (None)
I'm still breathing, so it can't be that bad, he tells himself hopefully. Remember, if you break your neck during a botched parachute landing and then a mad con...
I'm still breathing, so it can't be that bad, he tells himself hopefully. Remember, if you break your neck during a botched parachute landing and then a mad conspiracy-theorist injects black market nanomachines into you, it's highly unlikely that anything worse can happen before sundown, he tells himself in a spirit of misplaced optimism.
Appeals Court by Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross is the sequel to another of their collaborations, Jury Service. Their powers combined, these two stories form...
ConFusion was sublime. On Friday I was given a temporary tatoo of Tux the penguin, which I put on the back of my hand with the inked inscription, "0wnz0r3d...
ConFusion was sublime. On Friday I was given a temporary tatoo of Tux the penguin, which I put on the back of my hand with the inked inscription, "0wnz0r3d!!1!"
Why did ten people sign up for a "Coffee With Vernor Vinge" in order to hear themselves talk for an hour? GRRRRRR.
Mr. Vinge is so polite. In this respect he's the inverse of a guest of honor from a previous year who talked so much that no one else could get a word in sideways. That previous guest, who will remain nam...
Last night told Eric Raymond how I was restraining myself from getting all flustered over Vernor Vinge. I mentioned to Eric that I had a short list of people wh...
Last night told Eric Raymond how I was restraining myself from getting all flustered over Vernor Vinge. I mentioned to Eric that I had a short list of people who I wanted to meet or even befriend some day-- people of surpassing coolness who I admire, or who are my heroes, or who have inspired me, or who are on my wavelength to an uncanny degree, or various combinations of the above. He asked me to tell him the list. I didn't mention this to him, but he was one of the first to get on it, and he w...
Several months ago I signed up to receive Google Alerts of any new mentions on the web of Greg Egan, who as you know is my favorite author of all time. Unfortun...
Several months ago I signed up to receive Google Alerts of any new mentions on the web of Greg Egan, who as you know is my favorite author of all time. Unfortunately, there are at least two other Greg Egans who get more press than the Australian science fiction master, so I've had to modify the parameters of the persistent search to exclude the words "hockey" and "wrestler".
Also, it kind of upsets me that www.gregegan.com leads to a placeholder page for a defunct website tha...
DJ Particle gave me permission to blog her Dance-Dance-Revolution song Cool Dancer. , you're going to love it!
Comments
brendand on Jan. 19, 2006 6:58 AM
SCHWE...
DJ Particle gave me permission to blog her Dance-Dance-Revolution song Cool Dancer. , you're going to love it!
Comments
brendand on Jan. 19, 2006 6:58 AM
SCHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
emiofbrie on Apr. 15, 2006 6:48 PM
Update, the link for the demo track is now here:
http://www.emiofbrie.com/DJ%20Particle-Cool%20Dancer%20DEMO.mp3
matt-arnold on Apr. 15, 2006 7:07 PM
Great! Thanks Emie!
I miss my Navy P-coat. My current coat is awkwardly puffy, and not long enough to protect me from the seat of my car on a morning like this one. It's also tires...
I miss my Navy P-coat. My current coat is awkwardly puffy, and not long enough to protect me from the seat of my car on a morning like this one. It's also tiresomely pedestrian, and makes me feel like a thoughtless ragamuffin, which just isn't me.
I wish to purchase and wear an overcoat. Nothing ridiculously expensive; I'm thinking of the $50 to $150 range. Also, I don't want one made of fancy leather that needs to be protected from the elements. Any recommendations on coats or stores? , you've ...
Ray Kurzweil is a guest blogger on Non-Prophet, to promote the ideas in his latest book, "The Singularity Is Near."
"If people stop dying, isn’t ...
Ray Kurzweil is a guest blogger on Non-Prophet, to promote the ideas in his latest book, "The Singularity Is Near."
"If people stop dying, isn’t that going to lead to overpopulation?
A common mistake that people make when considering the future is to envision a major change to today’s world, such as radical life extension, as if nothing else were going to change. The GNR [genetics, nanotechnology, robotics] revolutions will result in other transformations that address this issue. ...
While in Second Life playing Tringo (a combination of tetris and bingo), Bejewelled spinoffs, and Settlers, I realized Second Life might finally allow me to imp...
While in Second Life playing Tringo (a combination of tetris and bingo), Bejewelled spinoffs, and Settlers, I realized Second Life might finally allow me to implement the ideas I had for space chess with computer graphic mediation.
Why not? Others are using SL to recreate a teddy-bear version of Warhammer 30,000. :)
However, once I built the 3-D model, I would have to pay someone to program the script for it in Second Life's proprietary scripting language.
(For more background, you might like to...
It's time once again for "Ask Uncle Matt," the part of the blog in which I delight and confuse you.
Dear Uncle Matt,
_
This weekend I will be attendin...
It's time once again for "Ask Uncle Matt," the part of the blog in which I delight and confuse you.
Dear Uncle Matt,
_
This weekend I will be attending a science fiction and fantasy literature convention in Troy, Michigan called ConFusion.
While I am there, where can I feed my need for erotic rice crispie treats?
_
-Crispy Creme
Dear Crispy,
you can find erotic rice crispie treats at ConverStation, the room party of ConVersation.
-Uncle Matt
Comments
zillafan on Jan. 16, 2006 8:51 PM
...
Hacking
45% vivacity, 61% benevolence, 77% intellectualism
You are hacking! You grasp the austere, beautiful mathematical relationships behind things. Whatever ...
Hacking
45% vivacity, 61% benevolence, 77% intellectualism
You are hacking! You grasp the austere, beautiful mathematical relationships behind things. Whatever you need to achieve in life, you translate it into the realm of the computer and perform the operations to achieve your ends. They don't call it code for nothing.
On the other hand, your significant other is probably wondering where you are. May I suggest you give him or her a call during your next coffee break?
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I have never regarded myself as pessimistic. I am a realist. I take a hard-nosed stance toward the distinction between daydream and reality. Some realities, no ...
I have never regarded myself as pessimistic. I am a realist. I take a hard-nosed stance toward the distinction between daydream and reality. Some realities, no matter how unbearable, will never be what I wish them to be.
But when scenarios play out that I regard as wildly implausible and hopelessly self-indulgent even to contemplate, I have to admit that I've been too strict with myself. Hope is distinct from faith. For a realist, reality is law. And the experiential facts have born out the clai...
Mere hours after I blogged about neurobiologist Paul Z. Myers yesterday, ConFusion picked up on my suggestion and invited him to be their Science Guest of Honor...
Mere hours after I blogged about neurobiologist Paul Z. Myers yesterday, ConFusion picked up on my suggestion and invited him to be their Science Guest of Honor for 2007, and he accepted!
Krysta asked me to write an announcement for the e-mail list:
Dr. Myers, or PZ as he is known, is author of the popular blog www.Pharyngula.com, where he holds forth on science, religion, and the politics of science and religion.
Not only does he know the findings of science, he knows why science does its job b...
Biologist PZ Myers should be made scientist guest of honor at one of our local science fiction conventions. I love his blog, Pharyngula, so much that I have to ...
Biologist PZ Myers should be made scientist guest of honor at one of our local science fiction conventions. I love his blog, Pharyngula, so much that I have to take care not to turn my own blog into little more than "here's how PZ hit it out of the park today." You'll have to read it for yourself. I will say, however, that I am now seeking "The Root Of All Evil," a BBC documentary about religion by famed evolutionist Richard Dawkins on DVD, in NTSC, playable in Region 1. It n...
Sweet lard and heavenly butter. You are not going to believe this. I can hardly believe it myself. As you can see from the image behind the lj-cut, I am actuall...
Sweet lard and heavenly butter. You are not going to believe this. I can hardly believe it myself. As you can see from the image behind the lj-cut, I am actually drinking tea at a tea party in a Neo-Victorian finishing school, and I am actually enjoying it.
It doesn't hurt that my tea-drinking compatriots are Steampunks, it's a scene out of Neil Stephenson's science fiction novel The Diamond Age, and this is a well-attended discussion group about the cutting edge of desktop minifacturing applian...
had some great thoughts on the xartum development messageboard.
It looks like spell casting would almost always involve the Perl programming language, whereas a...
had some great thoughts on the xartum development messageboard.
It looks like spell casting would almost always involve the Perl programming language, whereas altering the world with Lojban is then the equivalent of prayer because it requires somebody to implement it in Perl ... or it's the equivalent of incanting familiars to do one's bidding, depending on how one feels about transcendent artificial intelligences who have breached a toposophic boundary.
It also makes me chuckle to imagine chara...
Paul Z Myers has an entry on his Pharyngula blog concerning some of the world's worst memes. In response to the meme "Abortion stills a beating heart,"...
Paul Z Myers has an entry on his Pharyngula blog concerning some of the world's worst memes. In response to the meme "Abortion stills a beating heart," PZ retorts:
"Yeah, and my humanity is embedded entirely in Hodgkin and Huxley's sliding filament theory of muscle contraction, and my mind is just a rhythmic pacemaker potential."
His comments to the other memes are similarly wonderful, but this one is my favorite.
Comments
marahsk on Jan. 7, 2006 9:47 AM
Mousetraps still a b...
Twenty years ago, my parents wrote programs for the Commodore 64 and submitted them to Ahoy magazine and COMPUTE!'s Gazette, which would print the code in its p...
Twenty years ago, my parents wrote programs for the Commodore 64 and submitted them to Ahoy magazine and COMPUTE!'s Gazette, which would print the code in its pages and send my parents about fifty bucks. I had almost forgotten about this in the time since then, but Mom just found their programs available for download on the web, complete with screenshots and full credit to them by name. "Elfred" was a Christmas game. There was also "Dots" and "Tree Tutor for Tots". ...
I have finished episode three of jbocradi, Lojban Radio, and it's up on the web now. Click here to visit the jbocradi website, where it can be downloaded in MP3...
I have finished episode three of jbocradi, Lojban Radio, and it's up on the web now. Click here to visit the jbocradi website, where it can be downloaded in MP3 and OGG audio formats and subscribed with RSS or Atom feeds. This episode features part one of "Robin Lee Powell's Tale of Woe," told in Lojban live and in person at Logfest 2003. After that segment, I played the karaoke track to Fredo Viola's "Moon After Berceuse", and sung Lojban lyrics to it. Thanks for the music g...
In a few days I will set down my goals for 2006. Last year at this time I blogged about my goals for 2005. It's now time to review.
-- Start learning Python. St...
In a few days I will set down my goals for 2006. Last year at this time I blogged about my goals for 2005. It's now time to review.
-- Start learning Python. Status: Unstarted and abandoned. Even if I had learned a programming language, I would never put it to any use. I will not pursue it.
-- Dedicate more worthwhile hardware to open-source, and install a build of Linux on it which I can actually get software for. Status: Complete.
-- Reduce my involvement in running conventions to a responsibl...
Remember The Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch by Monty Python? During a Skype voice-over-IP chat this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Lojban actual...
Remember The Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch by Monty Python? During a Skype voice-over-IP chat this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Lojban actually has a word for hovercraft! lemi varkiclaflo'i cu culno lei angila "My hovercraft is full of eels." leimi tatru cu spoja seci'o lenu gleki "My nipples explode with delight!"
Comments
rachelann1977 on Dec. 28, 2005 2:51 AM
Now THAT'S funny. I needed a good laugh.
What do most people think of when they think of languages? Nations. Ordinarily, learning a second language is done to live, work, or vacation in another country...
What do most people think of when they think of languages? Nations. Ordinarily, learning a second language is done to live, work, or vacation in another country. I proposed to the Logical Language Group that we officially sanction an online game to serve as an imaginary internet nation where Lojban is spoken. It appears at this point that it will take place in a text-based online game, which is in development now.
Those who make a nominal donation to the LLG would be mailed a naturalization cert...
The researchers who constructed a robot with "mirror image cognition" are evidently looking at their project from the point of view of asking whether ...
The researchers who constructed a robot with "mirror image cognition" are evidently looking at their project from the point of view of asking whether the robot is doing what it is we do. Or at least, what very simple animals do, such as insects. "Consciousness." "Self-awareness." I think the attempt to make that comparison only leads to dissapointment, because there is a tendency to define intelligence as whatever it is artificial intelligence researchers haven't ac...
I'm almost done reading Calculating God by Robert Sawyer, a novel about alien races who believe in Intelligent Design. It's a frustrating experience, full of vi...
I'm almost done reading Calculating God by Robert Sawyer, a novel about alien races who believe in Intelligent Design. It's a frustrating experience, full of vicarious embarassment. At first it was just a non-supernatural form of deism. Biological evolution was not in dispute at the beginning of the book; it was the fine-tuning of cosmological constants in the big bang, and (I thought at first) a non-interventionist deity from then on. To their credit, at least the aliens depicted in the book do...
If you feel like getting really stressed out, check out this article about the Left Behind series of books. Excerpt:
“Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches ...
If you feel like getting really stressed out, check out this article about the Left Behind series of books. Excerpt:
“Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again.”
-- From Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
“The best thing about the Left Behind books is the...
Dear friends, I owe you a conclusion to the Philcon report, photos of Logfest, and a speech about Dean Gray Tuesday.
The past few weeks I've worked late almost ...
Dear friends, I owe you a conclusion to the Philcon report, photos of Logfest, and a speech about Dean Gray Tuesday.
The past few weeks I've worked late almost every night, because of the pre-Christmas workload that takes place at any ad agency. It was not the right time of year to take a vacation and have a backlog of work when I get back from it. Today I was asked to lock dozens of documents in the database, create dozens more by end of day Monday, and simultaneously substitute for the recepti...
Remember the remix of Green Day with Dr. Who which I recently blogged about? Today I'm altering my website to participate in Dean Gray Tuesday. Check out my nif...
Remember the remix of Green Day with Dr. Who which I recently blogged about? Today I'm altering my website to participate in Dean Gray Tuesday. Check out my nifty graphic, and download the music. I had a whole speech planned out for this, but I'm crazy busy coming back from vacation so it'll have to wait.
Edited to add: Somebody has made a video of Dr. Who on Holiday which looks ten times more professional than the animation I was planning. However, it does not have my visual gags like the votin...
Where is everybody? There are supposed to be a thousand attendees at Philcon but this hotel is much too spacious for that number. The con doesn't have the funct...
Where is everybody? There are supposed to be a thousand attendees at Philcon but this hotel is much too spacious for that number. The con doesn't have the function space to ourselves, even though the room block is sold out. Against their agreement with the convention, the hotel kicked us out of the Logfest room to set up for someone else tomorrow. So we set up a fan table on the table where information used to be before they closed it, and watched the incredibly sparse passersby. Bill and I just...
Friday December 9 2005 1:40 PM
Just after twelve we arrived at Philcon 2005, parked, found the hotel, found people who are with the convention, and Bill made hi...
Friday December 9 2005 1:40 PM
Just after twelve we arrived at Philcon 2005, parked, found the hotel, found people who are with the convention, and Bill made his first enemy, so we feel right at home. ;) I'm joking! Bill and I both laughed later when I phrased it this way. The first person we talked to displayed symptoms of “old-fen mentality,” which did not really piss Bill off, but he calmly noted it and I could see what he meant.
Now we are sitting on the floor in the hotel with Bill and the ...
Ford had a good time with the gang at Tio's and fit right in. had a great idea for me: a foundation to help kids from fundamentalist religious families go to ac...
Ford had a good time with the gang at Tio's and fit right in. had a great idea for me: a foundation to help kids from fundamentalist religious families go to accredited schools. Ford says if I start such a foundation, Universism can provide the corporate structure under the Universism charity. It seems like this is the week for meeting people who I've known for years only on the internet! In addition to Ford's visit, this weekend I'll meet Robin Lee Powell and several other speakers of Lojban at...
Ford Vox, who kicked off the Universism movement, is visiting Ann Arbor and wants to meet with tonight. We've invited him to Tuesdays at Tios.
Comments
elizill...
Ford Vox, who kicked off the Universism movement, is visiting Ann Arbor and wants to meet with tonight. We've invited him to Tuesdays at Tios.
Comments
elizilla on Dec. 7, 2005 5:03 AM
How does he like being the newest member of Stilyagi? :)
brendand on Dec. 7, 2005 1:09 PM
And I missed it! Damn sleep.
copingwithcows on Dec. 7, 2005 7:03 PM — it's you
Is mofo still on mondays and is it still at the tel-12 dennys. I'd ask bob but he and i work at all odd hours. thanks.
"It's you."
&q...
Uh-oh: I just found out something about the saying which we have on the Penguicon concom, in which I am going to "beat them with the Wiki Stick" until...
Uh-oh: I just found out something about the saying which we have on the Penguicon concom, in which I am going to "beat them with the Wiki Stick" until they put their operational reports and plans on EncycloPenguicon. I now can literally do so. Wiki Stix are actually for sale. They're pipe cleaners covered in wax. Watch out, !
Comments
treebones on Dec. 5, 2005 7:28 PM
Hrm. I think, perhaps, I will choose not to dwell in terror. (:
uplinktruck on Dec. 5, 2005 8:54 PM
Have you collecte...
Bill Putt, Aaron Thul, and the inestimable are here experimenting on a new OpenCola formula and process for Penguicon 4.0. I'll put up the photos and videos soo...
Bill Putt, Aaron Thul, and the inestimable are here experimenting on a new OpenCola formula and process for Penguicon 4.0. I'll put up the photos and videos soon. has all kind of chemistry and safety equipment which is really photogenic. He has invented a variant recipe that will taste more like Pepsi. We recently gave up looking for last year's box of OpenCola ingredients and were resigned to buying them over again. We were almost out of all of it last year and were going to have to buy more an...
I usually just use Windows because it's too inconvenient and uncomfortable to reach across the desk to the keyboards and mice for Mac and Linux. Since I'm the p...
I usually just use Windows because it's too inconvenient and uncomfortable to reach across the desk to the keyboards and mice for Mac and Linux. Since I'm the perfect customer for a keyboard/mouse/monitor switch, I've wanted to run Synergy for a long time. This is a piece of software that hooks up multiple computers on the same desk so that you can roll your mouse off the edge of one screen and onto the one next to it. The keyboard operates whatever computer the mouse is on; and it lets you cut ...
On Thanksgiving I suffered a stroke in my exocortex. No, don't worry, I'm not talking about a medical condition! My handheld computer isn't working. And like Ma...
On Thanksgiving I suffered a stroke in my exocortex. No, don't worry, I'm not talking about a medical condition! My handheld computer isn't working. And like Manfred Macx in the third chapter of Accelerando! ("Tourist"), I and those around me noticed the effect immediately. Symptoms included a complete lack of any idea what I was scheduled to do, when or where I was scheduled to do it, passwords to allow access to it, and the contact info of people I was scheduled to do it with. The pa...
Today I wanted to make some corrections to the HTML of one of my old web pages to make it compliant with the standards of the Firefox web browser. So I saved th...
Today I wanted to make some corrections to the HTML of one of my old web pages to make it compliant with the standards of the Firefox web browser. So I saved the webpage on my Linux computer. I opened the HTML file in Text Editor and was pleased that it made the markup tags a variety of different colors. This visual aid made the work go much faster.
I looked in the Applications menu and was surprised that I didn't see an FTP client with which to send the file to my web space. So I looked in Syna...
My teenage brother Andy called last night. Some of you met him at a meeting of the Macomb Oakland Fan Organization and you know he's a proto-fan. A fan who does...
My teenage brother Andy called last night. Some of you met him at a meeting of the Macomb Oakland Fan Organization and you know he's a proto-fan. A fan who doesn't go to fandom events yet. I've blogged about his attendance at my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College, on two occasions, and needless to say, those were some of the most emotional and heartfelt journal entries I've ever written. This institution might be more appropriately named "Pensacola Concentration Camp" for the reas...
Do you like Dr. Who? And do you like the music of Green Day? And would you like a speech by George W. Bush mixed with Dahleks? I knew you would. American Edit h...
Do you like Dr. Who? And do you like the music of Green Day? And would you like a speech by George W. Bush mixed with Dahleks? I knew you would. American Edit has given it to you.
Comments
ericthemage on Nov. 22, 2005 3:18 PM
I listened to that this morning. Very cool.
Stress is unusual for me. In fact, if anything, I've always been told I need to be more concerned about matters than I am. The past week or two have been full o...
Stress is unusual for me. In fact, if anything, I've always been told I need to be more concerned about matters than I am. The past week or two have been full of good times, but they've been tainted by an unusual outbreak of anxiety about a situation at work. I'll be going about my happy-go-lucky activities and suddenly I'll remember it and become sick to my stomach. I've even had it come into my mind while lying in bed. That's when I know there's something weird going on in Mattland.
It's my jo...
I'm copying my MP3 collection from my Windows computer to my Linux computer. I'd like to have it all in OGG Vorbis format. For a while I had a program on Window...
I'm copying my MP3 collection from my Windows computer to my Linux computer. I'd like to have it all in OGG Vorbis format. For a while I had a program on Windows that changed them from one to the other, but it was shareware and expired. I tried installing a free open source program on Linux to do this but it's one of those programs that doesn't appear in the Applications menu. So it's apparently intended for use from the command line.
Of course that would involve finding the executable in the fi...
Bruce Schneier has an article in WIRED Magazine which is a must-read for all computer users who care about keeping their computers free from spyware, malicious ...
Bruce Schneier has an article in WIRED Magazine which is a must-read for all computer users who care about keeping their computers free from spyware, malicious access cloaking programs, and other malware. He describes how anti-virus companies chose not to block Sony's malicious computer intrusion program on their infected music CDs. They considered it a "legitimate application" just because it was a criminal act by a corporation instead of by a criminal organization. How far will this ...
"Memo May Have Swayed Plan B Ruling in WashingtonPost.com.
One of the silver linings of an administration's dependence on the loudest minority of zealots i...
"Memo May Have Swayed Plan B Ruling in WashingtonPost.com.
One of the silver linings of an administration's dependence on the loudest minority of zealots in its religious base is that they're so loud they open their mouths and insert their feet, as Pat Robertson recently did when he warned Dover PA that God might smite them for voting out the anti-evolutionists on the school board.
A conservative doctor gave a sermon at his church about how his memo to the FDA prevented the availability of ...
Link to an article.
A painting of a bride and groom has been removed from a register office in case it offends gay couples tying the knot.
The wedding scene, an...
Link to an article.
A painting of a bride and groom has been removed from a register office in case it offends gay couples tying the knot.
The wedding scene, and another of Romeo and Juliet, has been ruled unsuitable for single sex civil partnership ceremonies, which start next month.
_
Register Officer Janet Taubman said: "We had two pictures up before. There was a picture of a groom signing the register with a young bride and the other was of Romeo and Juliet on a swing.
"They were i...
My friends at The Logical Language Group made a last-minute announcement of Logfest 2005. The Philadelphia science fiction convention Philcon has set aside a ro...
My friends at The Logical Language Group made a last-minute announcement of Logfest 2005. The Philadelphia science fiction convention Philcon has set aside a room in which to hold the intermittently-recurring celebration of the Lojban language, December 9 through 11. I'm thrilled by this announcement. They can expect to see me there. You have no idea how long I have wanted there to be a LogFest-- the last one took place before I was involved in the language. For a whiIe I was idly toying with re...
I'm entitled to another 52.5 hours of vacation time beyond the days I've already taken. I had no idea I get that much, so I've been zealously hoarding it all ye...
I'm entitled to another 52.5 hours of vacation time beyond the days I've already taken. I had no idea I get that much, so I've been zealously hoarding it all year in order to not come up short. It's not reusable. What am I going to do with it in two months? Today I'm going to Youmacon. I wonder if I can take the rest of the day off...
Comments
murphyw on Nov. 11, 2005 3:05 PM
I had some forced vacation taking; had a nice road trip. Up throught the UP, then left to MN and SD and even a little Wy...
SWEET LARD AND HEAVENLY BUTTER. Streampad, the free streaming music service on the web, hath delivered unto me this day a live classical concerto based on sound...
SWEET LARD AND HEAVENLY BUTTER. Streampad, the free streaming music service on the web, hath delivered unto me this day a live classical concerto based on sounds from the Windows operating system.
Comments
shadowriderhope on Nov. 14, 2005 1:48 AM
Wowo. I am speechless.
And so concludes another discussion, this time with someone who says he is "completely objective now as faer [sic] as is humanly possible". According ...
And so concludes another discussion, this time with someone who says he is "completely objective now as faer [sic] as is humanly possible". According to him, the way to become objective is to stop hardening your heart against Christ, and instead harden your heart against anything other than Christ. I particularly love how he prefaces a statement by saying "LOGIC:" Isn't that cute?
On the one hand he is proud of his higher education and expects me to take his word for it becau...
Finally an online game world that doesn't actually need any players. You create your character and then sit back and let him play the game for you. The Keyboard...
Finally an online game world that doesn't actually need any players. You create your character and then sit back and let him play the game for you. The Keyboard Shortcut menu is a model of intuitive brevity, copied in its entirety here:
Key
Description
Alt-F4
Exit Progress Quest
It's as simple as that. There are no graphics, only progress bars. The game hands your character an endless stream of exotic monsters to murder without any of that tedious worldbuilding or questing in between. In fact, a...
My website tends to get a lot of e-mail from Christians hoping to convert me. I'm in correspondence with another one of them now. The fellow I'm talking to curr...
My website tends to get a lot of e-mail from Christians hoping to convert me. I'm in correspondence with another one of them now. The fellow I'm talking to currently is actually reading my site page by page. That's nice of him to do.
I often don't tell you about the e-mail exchanges because many of them are quite boring. My correspondence with a Chicago radio pastor last year was more interesting than most.
I will speak right now to those who consider it useless to "evangelize" atheism...
Many people who know me well are aware that I do not interpret non-verbal communication in many circumstances, and sometimes don't recognize it at all unless I ...
Many people who know me well are aware that I do not interpret non-verbal communication in many circumstances, and sometimes don't recognize it at all unless I am specifically looking for it. linked to this essay on a scientific study of flirting. It's fascinating. The description of distance, posture and eye contact has wide application to human interactions far beyond "flirting." For instance, it describes unconscious signaling of discomfort, dislike and rejection. It also describes ...
This is from a thread on PCCboard about e-mail access being restored after the internet had been banned from campus for years; and the sneaky means with which a...
This is from a thread on PCCboard about e-mail access being restored after the internet had been banned from campus for years; and the sneaky means with which a tech-savvy student can gain free speech as if he is a Chinese dissident. A consensus was reached on this thread that PCC is the perfect training ground for secret agents. A choice quote:
shawshank: "oh goody, goody -- can I download songs on my iPod, too. can I? can I?"
: "absolutely. you just can't use headphones to liste...
This is a followup to the topics we ranged over during yesterday's discussion of cathexis.
What is love? According to this site,
Dopamine, phenyl ethylamine and...
This is a followup to the topics we ranged over during yesterday's discussion of cathexis.
What is love? According to this site,
Dopamine, phenyl ethylamine and oxytocin.
"The parts of the brain that involve unconscious processes like movement are heavily involved with strong feelings of love." So remember, the next time you fall head over heels, to whisper these sweet words: medial insula, anterior cingulate, basal ganglia."
Discuss. (I love throwing curveballs.) :)
Comments
ete...
I have an idea for an innovative method of writing a science fiction novel. What if two authors, with radically different views of society, write the part of th...
I have an idea for an innovative method of writing a science fiction novel. What if two authors, with radically different views of society, write the part of the factions that represent them in the novel? With some maturity and mutual respect, it would not have to devolve into something like this example. As They Might Be Giants would say, this could lead to excellence or serious injury.
This weekend I enjoyed reading Marshall Brain's online book explaining why he does not believe in God, "...
Recently in talking to someone about a troubling situation they had, I recalled a hypothesis I had once developed. I spent too much time late at night hunting f...
Recently in talking to someone about a troubling situation they had, I recalled a hypothesis I had once developed. I spent too much time late at night hunting for the file in which I had written it out, so I'll put it here for safekeeping.
"The Road Less Traveled" says that infatuation is sometimes referred to academically with the word "cathexis," which means a softening of boundaries between identities. An infant, for instance, is still developing concepts of itself and the...
Followers of Christ did not get the label "Christian" until several decades after Christ. The term was coined by non-Christians in Asia Minor as a der...
Followers of Christ did not get the label "Christian" until several decades after Christ. The term was coined by non-Christians in Asia Minor as a derisive term, meaning "little Christ ones." In a stroke of genius, the followers of Christ adopted the term as their name and it came to mean something good. I saw a similar opportunity in a newspaper editorial by Orson Scott Card. Mr. Card refers to the non-Heartland derisively as "Smartland." Don't you love that name? ...
One of the more fun examples of brain science on the web is The Monkeysphere. I would have mentioned it yesterday but it's not a mind hack exactly. It's just kn...
One of the more fun examples of brain science on the web is The Monkeysphere. I would have mentioned it yesterday but it's not a mind hack exactly. It's just knowledge. You may or may not behave differently after you read it. But you'll probably laugh.
Comments
drkelso on Oct. 25, 2005 3:49 PM
yeah. that was a good read.
now i need to get back to work instead of ripping off a huge faceless organization where I only know 12 people.
palindromeg33k on Oct. 27, 2005 1:01 AM
this concept of the mon...
I agree with Dave Ramsey when he says success comes a little bit from head knowledge but mostly from behavior. When I disagree with the guilt-fear-and-pep-ralli...
I agree with Dave Ramsey when he says success comes a little bit from head knowledge but mostly from behavior. When I disagree with the guilt-fear-and-pep-rallies approach to behavior modification, it behooves me to mention the approach I use instead. One can take the computer hacker approach to one's own brain.
Hackers are not content to use their property in the way the seller intended. They examine the innards, overclock it, give it more power, and make it do things the inventor never thought...
My parents bought tickets for Rachel and me to see "Total Money Makeover with Dave Ramsey" in Grand Rapids. I figured I was never going to get around ...
My parents bought tickets for Rachel and me to see "Total Money Makeover with Dave Ramsey" in Grand Rapids. I figured I was never going to get around to reading the book and it would be faster to see the seminar instead. Rachel was extremely reluctant to attend but decided she would rather not spend the day alone.
I was doing most of the program already without knowing it. I guess that's why I have hardly any debt, I live without credit, and I progress to fewer and fewer bills to pay i...
quotation marks
You scored 61% Sociability and 70% Sophistication!
There is a lot more to you than meets the eye. You certainly get plenty
of "action,"...
quotation marks
You scored 61% Sociability and 70% Sophistication!
There is a lot more to you than meets the eye. You certainly get plenty
of "action," but you'd be happier if those who lusted after you were
more selective. You hate being used as a general intensifier; haven't
these people ever heard of underlining? Italics? And yes, you remember
the cruel words Mr. Joyce directed at you.
But you let none of this get you down; those who abuse you are destined
for a "special" ...
Here is a followup to my recent entry about "A Modest Video Game Proposal." The PC Gaming mod community went ahead and created the game! It's called &...
Here is a followup to my recent entry about "A Modest Video Game Proposal." The PC Gaming mod community went ahead and created the game! It's called "Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator" and brought to life the BanMan's daydream about slaughtering those he considers moral deviants, down to the details of his request. Jack claimed he was just being satirical in offering his bounty, and refused to pay!
As those who read Penny Arcade web comic know, Mike &q...
Take "The Canon" out of John Scalzi's Rough Guide to sci-fi movies (or as he describes it, "the 50 science fiction films you have to see before y...
Take "The Canon" out of John Scalzi's Rough Guide to sci-fi movies (or as he describes it, "the 50 science fiction films you have to see before you die") and bold the movies you've seen. Snarky commentary is also part of the meme, and I have put in italics movies that I've seen parts of but have never watched all the way through.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Akira (One of my favorite anime films, but don't see it if you're the queasy type.)
Alien...
You fit in with:
Atheism
Your ideals mostly resemble those of an Atheist. You have very little faith and you are very focused on intellectual endeavors. You val...
You fit in with:
Atheism
Your ideals mostly resemble those of an Atheist. You have very little faith and you are very focused on intellectual endeavors. You value objective proof over intuition or subjective thoughts. You enjoy talking about ideas and tend to have a lot of in depth conversations with people.
60% scientific.
60% reason-oriented.
less
Ten years ago today I invited a girl I had a crush on to join me for dinner in the college dining hall. Debbie and I had spent time together on two or three occ...
Ten years ago today I invited a girl I had a crush on to join me for dinner in the college dining hall. Debbie and I had spent time together on two or three occasions and she found me enjoyable, but kept thinking to herself how much I reminded her of her best friend. So she asked if she could bring that friend along to dinner, as well as another guy. This other guy was very interested in Debbie but she was trying to shake him off. When we got there, I showed Debbie a lavish 11"x17" cha...
"A Modest Video Game Proposal" is a violent video game that should definitely be made.
Miami attorney Jack Thompson is among those leading the latest ...
"A Modest Video Game Proposal" is a violent video game that should definitely be made.
Miami attorney Jack Thompson is among those leading the latest American moral panic. He has offered to pay $10,000 to charity if a video game company creates a violent video game in which the player character massacres video game developers. "Target yourselves as you target others," Thompson says.
Apparently he will consider this proof that video game makers sincerely believe human beings p...
One more important point to my con report, which will segue into a rant about computer security.
When I opened up the laptop computer at ConClave, I did not hav...
One more important point to my con report, which will segue into a rant about computer security.
When I opened up the laptop computer at ConClave, I did not have a futile hours-long struggle to get on the internet. I had prepared for a struggle. I was even sitting in the middle of Cafe Penguicon where there were plenty of tech geeks who could help me figure it out. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when the latest release of Ubuntu got me right onto the hotel's wireless network, effortlessly. ...
The hard drive on my Linux computer is 2.7 gigabytes. And yet when I upgraded from Kubuntu Breezy Badger Beta to the official release of Breezy Badger, it repor...
The hard drive on my Linux computer is 2.7 gigabytes. And yet when I upgraded from Kubuntu Breezy Badger Beta to the official release of Breezy Badger, it reported that it couldn't finish the process because the hard drive is full. I checked the properties panel for the hard drive and indeed, it was full.
My problem today is that when I type in my password (which I know is correct) to log into the computer, the monitor clicks as if changing resolution, the screen goes black, then grey with a gra...
Conventions frequently promote themselves with room parties in hotel suites at other conventions. Cafe Penguicon and the ConVersation party were both great succ...
Conventions frequently promote themselves with room parties in hotel suites at other conventions. Cafe Penguicon and the ConVersation party were both great successes at ConClave.
Both conventions got many pre-registrations at their room parties, and a great time was had by all. We partied Friday and Saturday nights. In addition to the whole-bean freshly-ground coffee and espresso, Cafe Penguicon served the home-made fudge for which Kimba "The Fudge Goddess" is renowned. In honor of the...
In the fifth installment of his serialized novel "Themepunks" Cory Doctorow uses an idea which occurred to me independently long ago: multiple small d...
In the fifth installment of his serialized novel "Themepunks" Cory Doctorow uses an idea which occurred to me independently long ago: multiple small dishwashers for bachelor roommate pads. Don't use cupboards, just leave the cleaned dishes in the dishwasher and transfer them to the other dishwasher when they're dirty. It's really just an idea whose time has come.
Comments
natashasikorsky on Oct. 12, 2005 10:32 AM
I hope a big "clean/dirty" flag is part of the deal, kinda lik...
This is a questionairre you can take on the website of scientist and science fiction author David Brin. Here are my answers (if they can be called answers) in i...
This is a questionairre you can take on the website of scientist and science fiction author David Brin. Here are my answers (if they can be called answers) in italic.
An Informal Opinion Poll Regarding Certain "Fundamental Questions" of Politics, Ideology and Human Destiny
Please choose the statement which most closely models your own point of view, or provide a response in the space provided.
THE TIME FLOW OF WISDOM
How do you feel wisdom is acheived?
A: "I believe humans knew a ...
The different social rules that apply to different settings have occupied my thoughts for the past several days. It has been noticed that I tend to be much more...
The different social rules that apply to different settings have occupied my thoughts for the past several days. It has been noticed that I tend to be much more gentle and conciliatory face-to-face than in the written word. One has gone to far as to describe my words as "socially feral." That would only be true if I had spoken the words while hobnobbing at a party or a church. That's where people come together for pleasant experiences and fellowship, and so the rules of the social sett...
Those who were amused by my translation of "I Am A Little Teapot" into Lojban and back into English will be amused by Nick Nicholas' translation of th...
Those who were amused by my translation of "I Am A Little Teapot" into Lojban and back into English will be amused by Nick Nicholas' translation of the Sesame Street theme song into Klingon. I have long known of Nick through his involvement in the Lojban project, but I also knew he is a veritable polyglot, due to his interest in Klingon and Esperanto as well as several naturally-occurring languages.
Following is the English, translated into Klingon and back into English. A Klingon once...
From yesterday's Huntington Post, Sam Harris hits it out of the park once again. Excerpt:
Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it i...
From yesterday's Huntington Post, Sam Harris hits it out of the park once again. Excerpt:
Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle. The obvious must be observed and re-observed and argued for. This is a thankless job. It carries with it an aura of petulance and insensitivity. It is, moreover, a job that the atheist does not want.
It is...
This article in Men's Health points to studies linking 30 minutes of aerobic excercise three times a week to mental performance. This is the first time in my li...
This article in Men's Health points to studies linking 30 minutes of aerobic excercise three times a week to mental performance. This is the first time in my life I've ever been seriously tempted to excercise. I doubt that thirty minutes of jogging would cause me very much discomfort; that's point one. If I got an .MP3 player and listened to podcasts (and especially a voice recorder with clip microphone), I could avoid the boredom that has always deterred me from excercising; that's point two. B...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/spazzim/73030.html
Comments
drkelso on Oct. 4, 2005 12:05 AM
Ha ha.
Now you owe me a million bucks.
brendand on Oct. 4, 2005 ...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/spazzim/73030.html
Comments
drkelso on Oct. 4, 2005 12:05 AM
Ha ha.
Now you owe me a million bucks.
brendand on Oct. 4, 2005 12:49 AM
Have I mentioned how hot I think you are?! *evil grin*
I call this meme quiz "Chromaturgy." It asks you to select from a series of color swatches based on how they make you feel. The output is unique among...
I call this meme quiz "Chromaturgy." It asks you to select from a series of color swatches based on how they make you feel. The output is unique among LJ memes in that it is pretty universally unflattering (a memetic disadvantage), and ventures bold enough to get specific.
I have sometimes noticed myself being kind of mercenary-- in helping to run Penguicon for instance. I once commented that I would set aside any personal difference to get a project accomplished.
In the remainder of t...
I've put up the second episode of jbocradi, my podcast which is mostly in English about Lojban, rather than all spoken in Lojban. I made a spiffy new webpage fo...
I've put up the second episode of jbocradi, my podcast which is mostly in English about Lojban, rather than all spoken in Lojban. I made a spiffy new webpage for it. Gotta show off my skillz in Cascading Style Sheets.
In this episode:
Pronouncing "o"
The Holoalphabetic Sentence
Phrasebook Part 2
Lojban As An International Auxiliary Language
The webpage looks the way it does in order to try to communicate through association. That's why, on every new journal entry, I put a Photoshopped ...
commented in my recent LJ post, "Of course, when it comes to being reality impaired, you realize that you've just traded one fundamentalist reality tunnel ...
commented in my recent LJ post, "Of course, when it comes to being reality impaired, you realize that you've just traded one fundamentalist reality tunnel for another, don't you?"
I have a very conscious and deliberate relationship with dogma which I previously did not. When I used the existence of a personal deity as my one and only absolute, this dragged in an entire holy book of statements by that deity, which I had to prop up and defend, resulting in what Robert Anton Wilson calls ...
To continue my last post: Speaking of the hotel, the concom went to visit the Livonia Holiday Inn Holidome last night, and it just filled me with good conventio...
To continue my last post: Speaking of the hotel, the concom went to visit the Livonia Holiday Inn Holidome last night, and it just filled me with good convention feelings from end to end. The lobby, although it is roofed and filled with couches, resembles a charming pedestrian outdoor street with an enormous cafe-style gaming area. The moment that I stepped into the beautiful atrium filled with tropical plants, garden brickwork, benches surrounding fountains, the first words out of my mouth were...
OK, this happened yesterday and was unveiled at the concom meeting last night, so I don't have to keep it secret anymore. Chris DiBona told Penguicon's past GoH...
OK, this happened yesterday and was unveiled at the concom meeting last night, so I don't have to keep it secret anymore. Chris DiBona told Penguicon's past GoH Nat Torkington that he intends to accept our invitation to be the main tech guest for Penguicon 4.0! Mr. DiBona is in charge of Open Source Software for Google.
Let me say that again portentiously and with hand-waving: Goooooooooooogle. The biggest and coolest hype factory out there. The company that Microsoft fears. The future Microsoft...
Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman did a fantastic joint interview with TIME Magazine.
Comments
netmouse on Sep. 28, 2005 6:16 PM
yeah, I love how much they sound lik...
Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman did a fantastic joint interview with TIME Magazine.
Comments
netmouse on Sep. 28, 2005 6:16 PM
yeah, I love how much they sound like one another, in text anyway.
treebones on Sep. 28, 2005 8:00 PM
Very cool. I wonder if Neil might be willing to pitch PenguiCon to Joss for us. (:
Remember the woman in Atlanta who was held hostage in March by a courtroom shooter, and said she convinced him to turn himself in by "witnessing" to h...
Remember the woman in Atlanta who was held hostage in March by a courtroom shooter, and said she convinced him to turn himself in by "witnessing" to him out of the Christian book The Purpose-Driven Life?
Record Online News Wire reports her new revelations that he asked her for pot, and not having any pot, she gave him some of her illegal stash of crystal methamphetamine instead. It wasn't supernatural intervention that got the fugitive to relent; it was the gunman snorting the happy-dr...
As many of you know, I'm fascinated by unintentional humor created by those who, while remaining fully functional in our society, are gullible to the point of m...
As many of you know, I'm fascinated by unintentional humor created by those who, while remaining fully functional in our society, are gullible to the point of mental illness.
Someone on my lj friends list (who in recent weeks has felt herself to be on the verge of inventing The Grandiose Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything) consulted her Mayan Astrological Reading. Did you know, according to the "Dreamspell Galactic Signature", I am a Galactic Activatio...
Hello, and welcome! This is Lojban Radio! coi fi'i .i ti jbocradi
I'm your host Matt Arnold, mi'e mat.arnold
known to the Lojban community as Eppcott. poi la .e...
Hello, and welcome! This is Lojban Radio! coi fi'i .i ti jbocradi
I'm your host Matt Arnold, mi'e mat.arnold
known to the Lojban community as Eppcott. poi la .epkat cmene mi le lojbo cecmu
This is a computer audio periodical .i ti skami sance karni
for speakers and enthusiasts fo lo tavla je se cinri
of Lojban, the logical language. po la lojban po'u le logji bangu
September 27, 2005. detri li so pi'e reze pi'e renonomu
This episode will feature:
Pronouncing "o"
The Holoalphabetic Sent...
The ConVersation pre-con party on Saturday was a blast. Much tasty food was consumed. Jokes were told. Surveys were filled out in amusing and collaborative ways...
The ConVersation pre-con party on Saturday was a blast. Much tasty food was consumed. Jokes were told. Surveys were filled out in amusing and collaborative ways. We all swam clockwise in the swimming pool until it was a giant vortex. We heard each other sing new parody songs. Bill gave a tour of the hotel. We played Navia Dratp and a huge game of Settlers in the atrium at all hours of the night to the accompaniment of Davroz on the piano-- while , tired but not wanting to miss out, dozed on a so...
Tonight Bill and me and the rest of the ConVersation concom are throwing a pre-convention party at the hotel! I'm excited!
For those who don't know, ConVersatio...
Tonight Bill and me and the rest of the ConVersation concom are throwing a pre-convention party at the hotel! I'm excited!
For those who don't know, ConVersation, is a "relaxacon." This means it's a small convention that is very inexpensive to attend because it doesn't have any of the guests of honor, panel discussions, dealers room or other things typical of an SF/F con. A relaxacon just has a great hospitality suite with complimentary food and drinks, a dance on Friday and another on...
There are many programs and web applications that will syndicate your blog as a feed. Livejournal is one of them; you don't even have to set it up. It creates a...
There are many programs and web applications that will syndicate your blog as a feed. Livejournal is one of them; you don't even have to set it up. It creates a special document in formats such as RSS or Atom. I'll bet a lot of you didn't even know your blog did that. It's great that you don't have to mess with it. Anyone who wants to subscribe to you can point a piece of software called a feed aggregator at your Livejournal, and their aggregator will go out and fetch your entries and deliver th...
voksa zo'u mi'o frica bacru lo lerfu
lo merko je brito je xispo
.i la'e di'u bangu le je ritgu'e je fasgu'e je mergu'e
.i lo jbopre cu drata bacru le lerfu ci'e...
voksa zo'u mi'o frica bacru lo lerfu
lo merko je brito je xispo
.i la'e di'u bangu le je ritgu'e je fasgu'e je mergu'e
.i lo jbopre cu drata bacru le lerfu ci'e le gugde
.i ma'a tavla lo jbopre fi lo voksa po ro
Comments
none
Where can I find a recording of the title song from "Oklahoma" without vocals? I need it. Any instrument(s), synthesizer or other accompanyment will d...
Where can I find a recording of the title song from "Oklahoma" without vocals? I need it. Any instrument(s), synthesizer or other accompanyment will do.
Comments
the-leewit on Sep. 21, 2005 3:59 PM
Um, karaoke disc?
matt-arnold on Sep. 21, 2005 4:01 PM
Wow, great! What is a karaoke disc and where can I find one?
the-leewit on Sep. 21, 2005 4:03 PM
Dunno if it would help...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-2076859-8224757
the-leewit on Sep. 21, 2005 4:05 PM
W...
In this LJ thread I recently had a debate over the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. is of the view that it "simply acknowledges tha...
In this LJ thread I recently had a debate over the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. is of the view that it "simply acknowledges that the country is accountable to something more powerful then itself, even if that is the World Conciousness." I was of the view that although it's good for our nation to be accountable to its neighbors, world opinion and God are not interchangable terms.
The following may seem like a change of topic but in fact it's a serendipitous o...
I've been getting a lot of fan mail in the past 24 hours for the Lojban podcast. (Feed here, direct download here.) Comments include:
"a'u.i'acai ko'a xamg...
I've been getting a lot of fan mail in the past 24 hours for the Lojban podcast. (Feed here, direct download here.) Comments include:
"a'u.i'acai ko'a xamgu" "interest: fanatical acceptance: it's good"
".i zo'o mi prami do" "humorously: I love you"
".i .io xukau lenu do bacru zo o cu na xamgu" "respect: true or false rhetorical question: isn't your pronunciation of 'o' good?"
"Thank you!! I love it and can't wait for the next episo...
Today I began a monthly or bi-monthly Lojban podcast. You can subscribe by pointing a feed aggregator here. The direct download of the mp3 is here. A big "...
Today I began a monthly or bi-monthly Lojban podcast. You can subscribe by pointing a feed aggregator here. The direct download of the mp3 is here. A big "thank you" goes out to the Precursor project for granting permission to include their beautiful free music which you can download in its entirety on their site.
Comments
none
Hello, and welcome to the first lojbanic broadcast of the first lojbanic broadcaster! coi .i fi'i do le pa moi jbocradi le pa moi
This is a computer audio perio...
Hello, and welcome to the first lojbanic broadcast of the first lojbanic broadcaster! coi .i fi'i do le pa moi jbocradi le pa moi
This is a computer audio periodical .i ti skami sance karni
for speakers and enthusiasts fo lo tavla je se cinri
of Lojban, the logical language. po la lojban po'u le logji bangu
September 17, 2005. detri li so pi'e paze pi'e renonomu
This episode will feature:
Pronouncing "e"
Phrasebook part 1
Conlang of the Month Club
I'm your host Matt Arnold, mi'e mat.ar...
I was relieved when I saw that President Bush acknowledged the depth of mis-handling of the Katrina tragedy, and took (in his words) "personal responsibili...
I was relieved when I saw that President Bush acknowledged the depth of mis-handling of the Katrina tragedy, and took (in his words) "personal responsibility" for the effectiveness of his government's response capability. Americans are angry that until then he did not seem to take a national disaster seriously. There is more than one reason that we object to him vacationing, playing guitar with a country music singer, celebrating a birthday-cake photo-op with John McCain, praising the ...
Watching put together a jigsaw puzzle at 's birthday party got me thinking along lines that caused me to realize why translating into Lojban can be so satisfyin...
Watching put together a jigsaw puzzle at 's birthday party got me thinking along lines that caused me to realize why translating into Lojban can be so satisfying. Each new sentence is like a puzzle or riddle that one might find in the pages of a games magazine. Natural language grammars are filled with exceptions for little or no reasons, but the grammar of Lojban is as regular and immutable as a series of physical puzzle pieces that can be counted on to plug into each other in predictable ways....
Is patronage the new viable business model artists will have to move to in the digital future? Maybe if they can't get paid for copies of their recordings, we c...
Is patronage the new viable business model artists will have to move to in the digital future? Maybe if they can't get paid for copies of their recordings, we could pay them to write the songs in the first place. Songs To Wear Pants To is a guy who writes and records a free one-minute song when someone sends in a request, or he'll write and record a longer song with any description as long as you pay him to do so. Instead of being patronized by the Medici dynasty, artists in the future could get...
The Telecrapper 2000 is one of the most wonderful inventions I've ever heard of.
The phone-spam industry uses computer technology to maximize the use of their e...
The Telecrapper 2000 is one of the most wonderful inventions I've ever heard of.
The phone-spam industry uses computer technology to maximize the use of their employees' time. Even if they can't call you because of a no-call list, or can't get through because of a spam zapper device, they still make just as many calls. Dialing someone who doesn't answer costs them nothing, because their computers dial numbers until someone picks up, and only then do they assign your call to a telemarketer. By ho...
As usual, postmodernist deconstructionist theory is reduced to comments about comments about comments. Why, you ask? Because I got this from the comments of Tom...
As usual, postmodernist deconstructionist theory is reduced to comments about comments about comments. Why, you ask? Because I got this from the comments of Tomak, who got this from the comments of a grad student named Thom Ringer, who got it from The Journal of Social and Political Thought. And now I am commenting on it, only to note that it has been commented on. With no further ado, I present the cartoon about Postmodern Toasties.
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Remember the communicator the characters used on Earth: Final Conflict called a "global"? Its predecessor is here. The futuristic magic-marker-sized p...
Remember the communicator the characters used on Earth: Final Conflict called a "global"? Its predecessor is here. The futuristic magic-marker-sized pocket videoconferencing gadget envisioned by the TV show expanded to about a six inch diagonal screen. Similarly, Philips' device employs a flexible "paper screen" that displays a crude four shades of greyscale and rolls up when the device is collapsed.
Comments
none
BoingBoing blogged about How to make latex puppets for animated videos and I immediately went to the website and plunked down my money for the instructional DVD...
BoingBoing blogged about How to make latex puppets for animated videos and I immediately went to the website and plunked down my money for the instructional DVD. Foam latex is a casting substance which I have a deficit of information on. This is extremely timely as the fiberglass outer shell on Linux-tan's silicone mold is almost complete. Nobody brought a camera to Sunday's party (which was very successful by the way) or I'd have photos.
I've said before that I intend to make at least two finis...
Anybody coming to my party from the Ann Arbor area tonight who might be able to pick someone up? Please call me at (248)-787-7436.
Comments
brendand on Sep. 4,...
Anybody coming to my party from the Ann Arbor area tonight who might be able to pick someone up? Please call me at (248)-787-7436.
Comments
brendand on Sep. 4, 2005 11:32 PM
Sorry I'm not gonna make it tonight. Dinner with family was tonight, and to bed early for Ren Fest tomorrow.
Was I dreaming or had you originally said something about having a party on the 10th? Or are you still having a party then?
matt-arnold on Sep. 5, 2005 3:40 AM
That was the original plan. By the time I announced the...
Party at my place tonight, 6PM. Here's a Google Map: 23090 Majestic St, Oak Park MI. Bring a snack, a dish, or a beverage. Bring a chair or chairs if you have t...
Party at my place tonight, 6PM. Here's a Google Map: 23090 Majestic St, Oak Park MI. Bring a snack, a dish, or a beverage. Bring a chair or chairs if you have them.
Comments
scottym on Sep. 4, 2005 8:37 PM
Big, damned, Penis-shaped lake is in the way of the drive.
raendrop on Sep. 4, 2005 11:17 PM
*shakes head* That's in easy walking distance of my parents' house. Too bad I'm up in Rochester at OU.
crystal-diva on Sep. 5, 2005 3:34 AM
I really wish Michigan was not such a long drive for us To...
Will the Katrina crisis have its own Todd Beamer? Rather than help a woman who was being raped and stabbed, US troops in New Orleans murdered an American hero w...
Will the Katrina crisis have its own Todd Beamer? Rather than help a woman who was being raped and stabbed, US troops in New Orleans murdered an American hero who tried to ask them to help. This was posted on BoingBoing today. Get the word out.
"They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told the Reuters news agency before he left on Sunday.
_
A body lies face down in water next to the Superdome. Death was everywhere, both inside and outside the Superdome
_
"A young lady...
This is an excerpt from an article about this week's fight for life against disease, rape, murder (and according to CNN, now a massive chemical fire) among evac...
This is an excerpt from an article about this week's fight for life against disease, rape, murder (and according to CNN, now a massive chemical fire) among evacuees in Louisiana's Superdome and the heavily-armed National Guards who share their danger and miserable conditions as they hold them prisoner behind the fences. Ubiquitous feces and urine and corpses, heat and stench and squalor and abject destitution are an unlikely setting for a concert. In the middle of a gulag that threatens to becom...
I recently blogged a video of a device unveiled last month that prints ribbons of carbon nanotubes at high speed. The article is here. Now there's another break...
I recently blogged a video of a device unveiled last month that prints ribbons of carbon nanotubes at high speed. The article is here. Now there's another breakthrough. Today in New Scientist there is breaking news about a revolutionary development in nanomaterials that can make possible an elevator cable from the surface of the earth into space. This is not one of the forms of structured carbon you're used to, buckyballs or buckytubes which have hardness approaching that of diamond. Those were ...
One of my favorite musicians is Eri Sugai. She blends Japanese folk aesthetics and instruments with highly produced new age vocals, often employing a glossolali...
One of my favorite musicians is Eri Sugai. She blends Japanese folk aesthetics and instruments with highly produced new age vocals, often employing a glossolalia language she developed herself. The layered celestial sound in her first album Mai gives me something clear to mean by the word "angelic" in that it presses my buttons all over the emotional range with a rain of a million shivering cloud-shaped hammers. Certain tracks can sometimes transport me to what seems to be a vaguely al...
For those who don't know, you can put a Live CD with Linux on it into your Windows or Mac computer and it'll become a Linux computer temporarily. It's like hypn...
For those who don't know, you can put a Live CD with Linux on it into your Windows or Mac computer and it'll become a Linux computer temporarily. It's like hypnotism. It's as if your computer is clucking like a chicken. Then you take the CD out, and your Windows or Mac wakes up, yawns, shrugs, and goes about its business as if nothing had happened. None of your data is touched. It only uses the CD, it doesn't use the hard drive at all. It's called a "Knoppix" Live CD. You want one, you...
I should have included this in my recent list of ways Linux is like theology. You can't criticize Linux because somebody somewhere made their own version of Lin...
I should have included this in my recent list of ways Linux is like theology. You can't criticize Linux because somebody somewhere made their own version of Linux yesterday morning before breakfast which is intended to not have that problem; and they think you're criticizing them. But when I mean Linux, I mean the mainstream. I mean the thousands and thousands of open-source OS devotees and all the things that they really do have in common. Yes, there's variety, but they really do have certain t...
I'd love to have this do-it-yourself car computer. It's removable and uses a touch-screen with onscreen keyboard, a number keypad, and voice control. It serves ...
I'd love to have this do-it-yourself car computer. It's removable and uses a touch-screen with onscreen keyboard, a number keypad, and voice control. It serves as a workstation, jukebox, and GPS navigator with speech output. The site says:
* It’s not permanently mounted in the car.
_
* It doesn’t require (many) special parts or equipment.
* It doesn’t seem to overheat in hot weather, and fans run quiet.
* It’s not an electricity hog, and won’t drain the battery.
* It fits in a tiny car with a we...
At one time or another I've faced down most of the arguments listed on this site: Over 300 Proofs of God's Existence collected from discussions with religious p...
At one time or another I've faced down most of the arguments listed on this site: Over 300 Proofs of God's Existence collected from discussions with religious people on the Internet Infidels forums. It just keeps getting funnier and funnier.
17. ARGUMENT FROM INTIMIDATION
(1) See this bonfire?
(2) Therefore, God exists.
I once got this one from a guy who led a discussion group outreach to skeptics:
36. ARGUMENT FROM INCOMPLETE DEVASTATION
(1) A plane crashed killing 143 passengers and crew.
(2) ...
Here's Cory Doctorow's post to BoingBoing.net today. -Matt
Customers of new UK ISP get to share all Sony music on P2P
PlayLouder MSP, an ISP in the UK, has sec...
Here's Cory Doctorow's post to BoingBoing.net today. -Matt
Customers of new UK ISP get to share all Sony music on P2P
PlayLouder MSP, an ISP in the UK, has secured a license from Sony that allows its customers to legally share any song in the Sony-BMG catalog with any other PlayLouder MSP customer, and to download these tracks from any ISP customer in the entire world.
This is such stupendously good news that I frankly didn't believe it. This is what EFF has been calling for for years now, a Vo...
I've enjoyed living here, but John is moving out in a few months and so the time has come once again to find a new room to rent. It's become slightly more compl...
I've enjoyed living here, but John is moving out in a few months and so the time has come once again to find a new room to rent. It's become slightly more complicated by the fact that during the past twelve months (but not at any time which I can actually point to) R has moved in with me. I don't think it will make it all that much more complicated though.
I continue to want to rent a room that's really really cheap. I was told that a mortgage would probably cost the same as what I'm currently p...
Last year, a United Church of Christ TV ad was rejected by CBS and NBC for being too controversial. It depicts bouncers of the sort that stand guard over the do...
Last year, a United Church of Christ TV ad was rejected by CBS and NBC for being too controversial. It depicts bouncers of the sort that stand guard over the doors of popular nightclubs. But these are granting and withholding admission to a non-Church-of-Christ church service. The commercial then says that Jesus never turned anyone away. It's a good commercial, and it's true that people should accept all the groups the commercial identifies. I only bring it up because the campaign slogan is &quo...
From BoingBoing.
Jamais Cascio from www.worldchanging.com says:
"Researchers from the University of Texas, Dallas, and Australia's CSIRO have developed a w...
From BoingBoing.
Jamais Cascio from www.worldchanging.com says:
"Researchers from the University of Texas, Dallas, and Australia's CSIRO have developed a way of making strong, stable and amazingly useful ribbons and sheets made of multiwall carbon nanotubes. Their system pushes the material out at seven meters/minute; a Quicktime video of the process in action is here. If you've been following the development of nanotubes, you know what kind of accomplishment this is. In my view, this is th...
A meme found through :
Chances are people you don't even know are being introduced to your journal every day, either randomly or through someone else. In additi...
A meme found through :
Chances are people you don't even know are being introduced to your journal every day, either randomly or through someone else. In addition to recent entries, people can get to know you better by what you posted in the past. With that in mind post a link to your entries on this day exactly three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago, and a year ago. If there was no entry on that day, link the closest date.
I like this meme for giving me another excuse to link to my a...
From The Onion:
EVANGELICAL SCIENTISTS REFUTE GRAVITY WITH NEW 'INTELLIGENT FALLING' THEORY
KANSAS CITY, KS—As the debate over the teaching of evolution in publ...
From The Onion:
EVANGELICAL SCIENTISTS REFUTE GRAVITY WITH NEW 'INTELLIGENT FALLING' THEORY
KANSAS CITY, KS—As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday in this embattled Midwestern state. Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held "theory of gravity" is flawed, and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.
"Th...
Over the weekend, that one guy from the west coast who hates Unix and open source software was flaming the Lojban mailing list about the Lojban flag, which is a...
Over the weekend, that one guy from the west coast who hates Unix and open source software was flaming the Lojban mailing list about the Lojban flag, which is a cartesian coordinate system superimposed on a Venn diagram. (The reason we need a flag is for graphic language-selection menus.) He thinks it makes our language look like it's associated with open source software and science fiction. Um, it's probably not a coincidence that most jbopre are involved in one or more of them. I happen to lik...
[Poll #552340]
Comments
cathyr19355 on Aug. 16, 2005 4:18 AM
By all means, post about what interests you. However, in the name of not taking up *all* of my Fri...
[Poll #552340]
Comments
cathyr19355 on Aug. 16, 2005 4:18 AM
By all means, post about what interests you. However, in the name of not taking up *all* of my Friends page, would you please consider using lj-cut for some of your longer rants? Thanks!
matt-arnold on Aug. 16, 2005 1:18 PM
I Now Pronounce You Liable for Damages was about 725 words. Mezzo Desktop Environment was about 625 words. Discrimination Against Universists was about 525 words. Do one of these fall within the acceptable range o...
I've started translating the insidiously cynical and online web comic Perry Bible Fellowship into Lojban. This is one of those web comics which is cute and crue...
I've started translating the insidiously cynical and online web comic Perry Bible Fellowship into Lojban. This is one of those web comics which is cute and cruel at the same time. Below the cut are several samples.
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BoingBoing.net has a post about a Flickr photo set: "Many, many photos of old arcade game tokens".
This is making me jealous. I used to collect tokens...
BoingBoing.net has a post about a Flickr photo set: "Many, many photos of old arcade game tokens".
This is making me jealous. I used to collect tokens when I was in high school and college. In fact, I still have them. These were given to me from endless sources who I asked to bring back local arcade, transportation or phone tokens from their winter or summer college breaks all over the country and world. I have many tokens shown here and several that aren't. Common ones bring back memo...
Read this hilarious blog entry by Nick Lowe from a 1986 issue of Ansible. I call it a "blog entry from 1986", because Ansible is a fanzine. This is an...
Read this hilarious blog entry by Nick Lowe from a 1986 issue of Ansible. I call it a "blog entry from 1986", because Ansible is a fanzine. This is an ancient form of communication between fans from before there was blogging, using dead trees and shoe rubber that transmit blogs to you at .0000000000000001 megabytes per minute. Twenty years later this essay has been put on a webpage and got hundreds of thousands of readers by getting on the most popular bookmarks list on del.icio.us.
Re...
Paul,
May I ask exactly what you meant by that statement on questioning authority. I'm just curious. Thanks
Jared Grover
Hmmm. . . . . . .I think I know what h...
Paul,
May I ask exactly what you meant by that statement on questioning authority. I'm just curious. Thanks
Jared Grover
Hmmm. . . . . . .I think I know what he meant, maybe. I seem to remember the name "Paul Perdue" mentioned back when I was in PCC. He's the one that QUESTIONED AUTHORITY SO MUCH, that he caused the students to lose EMAIL PRIVILEDGES because he instigated a PCC HATE CLUB (my words) "The Student Voice" through the email system. I didn't have email access agai...
I was referred to this over-the-top Planned Parenthood promotional cartoon by Christians outraged that it depicts a superhero killing them for nothing more than...
I was referred to this over-the-top Planned Parenthood promotional cartoon by Christians outraged that it depicts a superhero killing them for nothing more than expressing anti-choice beliefs. Of course it's stylized kiddie-violence committed on inhuman zombie protesters in an obviously unrealistic heroes vs. villians setting, so it's not endorsing violence against real pro-lifers. But it's still the corniest heavy-handed preachy superhero story I've ever seen, even compared to Bibleman. Unlike ...
The Lojban mailing list directed me to a fascinating article about new linguistics research:
"New research by Dan Everett (University of Manchester) into t...
The Lojban mailing list directed me to a fascinating article about new linguistics research:
"New research by Dan Everett (University of Manchester) into the language of the Pirahã people of Amazonas, Brazil disputes two prominent linguistic ideas regarding grammar and translation. The Pirahã are intelligent, highly skilled hunters and fishers who speak a language remarkable for the complexity of its verb and sound systems. Yet, the Pirahã language and culture has several features that not ...
What can you tell me about Mezzo, the new desktop environment for a Debian-based flavor of Linux called Symphony OS? This looks exciting and I can't wait to pla...
What can you tell me about Mezzo, the new desktop environment for a Debian-based flavor of Linux called Symphony OS? This looks exciting and I can't wait to play around and experiment with it. I don't like downloading a program in Linux and then wondering where it went. Any interface that actually puts my programs where I can find the start icon after I install them will have me for a faithful user. Here's hoping it does so. I'm currently running Ubuntu, so I wonder if this desktop environment b...
PC Turnoff Organization wants us to turn off our computers August 1 through 7. Their website features articles like "Give Your Kids The Gift Of Boredom.&qu...
PC Turnoff Organization wants us to turn off our computers August 1 through 7. Their website features articles like "Give Your Kids The Gift Of Boredom." I am not making this up. For a moment I thought it was a parody, but it's not.
I can hardly wait five years to carry a computer with voice recognition in a hip pack, wirelessly connected to a heads-up display and headphones embedded in a pair of glasses. Through augmented reality, networking with each other would no longer involve sta...
Stolen from
Directions: Type "(your name) is" with the quotes into a Google search. Copy your favorite responses into an LJ post.
"Matt is the on...
Stolen from
Directions: Type "(your name) is" with the quotes into a Google search. Copy your favorite responses into an LJ post.
"Matt is the one associating Republicans with extremists."
"Metal is in, Matt is out."
"Matt is the straight-edge, Catholic raver/virgin."
"Matt: Is there any evidence at all that goes against evolution?"
"Matt is the web accessibility/usability guru and the manager of the Free Firefox project."
"Matt is...
According to the BBC, scientists have invented a treatment for cancer using fullerenes coated with a vitamin that only cancer cells have receptors for. The full...
According to the BBC, scientists have invented a treatment for cancer using fullerenes coated with a vitamin that only cancer cells have receptors for. The fullerines are heated with a laser to kill off only the cancer cells, leaving healthy cells intact. R's mother is undergoing radiation therapy for a tumor which was recently removed, and it's heartening to know that someday soon radiation and chemo will not be necessary.
Comments
temujin9 on Aug. 3, 2005 8:49 PM
Hot shit! You're just full of...
I just found this article about conceiving of yourself as a sentient shell script making supervisor calls on an automated, unconscious, animal-evolved kernel. I...
I just found this article about conceiving of yourself as a sentient shell script making supervisor calls on an automated, unconscious, animal-evolved kernel. Ignore the opening where the author is so dazzled by the importance of his idea that he has to talk about it for three paragraphs. He could be on to something. I don't know what to make of it, but it's interesting enough to bear further exploration and experimentation. Excerpt:
"And don't get me wrong, after weeks of playing around wi...
We Universists have been getting a streak of publicity lately. United Universists teamed up with writer-director Brian Flemming to distribute a documentary film...
We Universists have been getting a streak of publicity lately. United Universists teamed up with writer-director Brian Flemming to distribute a documentary film, "The God Who Wasn't There." Representatives keep getting radio appearances. One of them even recently sat down with a director of Focus on the Family's institute for taking over the culture, in which the director reportedly was not shy about their goal to someday break down our bedroom doors with jackboots. We've had more news...
Did I never write about seeing They Might Be Giants live in concert? Gather 'round while I recount it, for like all classical stories, it starts off with the pr...
Did I never write about seeing They Might Be Giants live in concert? Gather 'round while I recount it, for like all classical stories, it starts off with the protagonist's world in equilibrium, something happens to break the orderliness, it keeps getting worse and worse, and then order is restored. This story follows the classical comedic structure in that there's a happy ending.
It was July 14 at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Detroit. Although we hadn't found out about the concert until that...
Before too long, this place will no longer be available for rent. recently pointed out to me that I could get a house in Hamtramck for the same price I'm paying...
Before too long, this place will no longer be available for rent. recently pointed out to me that I could get a house in Hamtramck for the same price I'm paying monthly here. I've been talking to Bill for a long time about sharing a place, so he keeps reminding me to call the bank about how much of a loan I could get. During the first of the recent breakdowns of my car, he kept having to remind me to call a mutual friend of ours to repair it, and Bill had a dream in which I was a Dungeons and Dr...
Kevin Kelly writes a fascinating article titled "We Are The Web" in the August issue of WIRED.
"But looking back now, after 10 years of living on...
Kevin Kelly writes a fascinating article titled "We Are The Web" in the August issue of WIRED.
"But looking back now, after 10 years of living online, what surprises me about the genesis of the Web is how much was missing from Vannevar Bush's vision, Nelson's docuverse, and my own expectations. We all missed the big story. The revolution launched by Netscape's IPO was only marginally about hypertext and human knowledge. At its heart was a new kind of participation that has since d...
Today's post from described a conversation with an Egyptian emigrant who, from the perspective of his cultural divide, can't understand why she's not married. I...
Today's post from described a conversation with an Egyptian emigrant who, from the perspective of his cultural divide, can't understand why she's not married. In eloquent terms that speak for themselves, she explained to him why so many American women do not feel any need to desperately throw themselves at the first "good enough" guy who's stable and acceptably worth having to put up with having sex with him. Here, our friends fill in for our family-- they need to be deliberately culti...
I've been using Adobe products in the workplace for years and have purchased more than one for home use. While waiting for them to load, I often would browse th...
I've been using Adobe products in the workplace for years and have purchased more than one for home use. While waiting for them to load, I often would browse the credits in the splash screen. One name in the Photoshop credits always jumped out at me -- "Seetharanan Narayanan." Wow, I thought. How could you top a mellifluous name like that for a software engineer? Well this photo tour of Adobe headquarters (which looks exactly as I imagined Adobe headquarters would look), finally put a ...
I've put the first coat of silicone rubber on my 18-inch tall clay maquette of Linux-tan. An online community in Japan designs anime representations of operatin...
I've put the first coat of silicone rubber on my 18-inch tall clay maquette of Linux-tan. An online community in Japan designs anime representations of operating systems, and decided to draw this jellybean-shaped cartoon character as a surreal cross between a penguin and a gnu, emblazoned with a Gnome footprint logo and sporting a mohawk made of a gear to represent K Desktop Environment. (In order to be a family-friendly sculptor I left off the triply-redundant gigantic naughty bits that the ori...
Boingboing.net reports: "A collection of old skool hip-hop tracks smushed together with the compositions of Philip Glass."
Philip Glass writes opera m...
Boingboing.net reports: "A collection of old skool hip-hop tracks smushed together with the compositions of Philip Glass."
Philip Glass writes opera music which resembles bizarre performance art, such as the emotionless voices chanting "1, 2, 3, 4" in Einstein on the Beach, and the cold sythesizer and piano in Ankhnaten. It can make you feel like you are in an ivory tower, staring into the angsty depths of your vacant and dessicated soul; lost in thought -- spiraling into a h...
I'm really enjoying answering the responses I got from yesterday's journal entry about the LJ meme in which people ask me anonymous questions. I'm going to pref...
I'm really enjoying answering the responses I got from yesterday's journal entry about the LJ meme in which people ask me anonymous questions. I'm going to preface the questions with "Dear Uncle Matt", and make up names for you, just to show that this LJ meme is not the boss of me!
Dear Uncle Matt,
_
If you could be any type of sandwich, what type of sandwich would you be and why?
For instance, I would be a peanut butter and jelly, because I am both sweet and nutty.
*Where's Bob Ubanks...
OK, I think I'll participate in this activity that's going around LJ. You can ask me any question, by posting a comment to this journal entry anonymously or oth...
OK, I think I'll participate in this activity that's going around LJ. You can ask me any question, by posting a comment to this journal entry anonymously or otherwise. But I don't promise to answer it. I'll only answer it if I feel like it. Or it might be, "I don't know." All comments will be screened, so they won't appear unless I answer them, and questioners won't be named.
For instance, you could ask me if Wikipedia has a webpage about intrinsically funny words. Or you could ask wha...
"Televangelist Benny Hinn is threatening to sue the religious satire magazine The Door for the video clip it is distributing that shows Hinn's wife, Suzann...
"Televangelist Benny Hinn is threatening to sue the religious satire magazine The Door for the video clip it is distributing that shows Hinn's wife, Suzanne, preaching at their former church in Orlando, Florida. She says if you're a lifeless, blackslidden Christian, you need a "Holy Ghost enema... right up your rear end."
Because, according to Mz. Hinn, "God won't tolerate" you not getting a Holy Ghost enema. She paces back and forth on the stage like a drunken caged tig...
Hugh McCloud has an interesting essay on how to be creative. A couple of good excerpts, which I have believed for years:
"If you’re looking at a blank piec...
Hugh McCloud has an interesting essay on how to be creative. A couple of good excerpts, which I have believed for years:
"If you’re looking at a blank piece of paper and nothing comes to you, then go do something else. Writer’s block is just a symptom of feeling like you have nothing to say, combined with the rather weird idea that you SHOULD feel the need to say something."
_
"The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that s...
What if movies, books and music became a participation between artists and their fans?
This week I finished reading a book that I really wanted to like. To my s...
What if movies, books and music became a participation between artists and their fans?
This week I finished reading a book that I really wanted to like. To my suprise, I didn't. Although it had much to recommend it, there were very specific things wrong with it.
At first I was really disappointed and felt almost depressed. The ending of the book had closed like a jaw over my hopes of eventual fulfillment. But the cage around my hopes was a cage that only existed in my head-- I was reacting in a ...
[14:12] nemorathwald: can I get a word of advice from you about literature?
[14:13] nemorathwald: you've been involved in Emerald City, and fanzines and such an...
[14:12] nemorathwald: can I get a word of advice from you about literature?
[14:13] nemorathwald: you've been involved in Emerald City, and fanzines and such and so forth and the like and you might know what is expected of people in this situation.
[14:16] nemorathwald: The problem is this. I've been looking forward to writing a review of Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town for months now. But I just got done reading it and I don't like it, for many good reasons which I can articulate ver...
wrote, "I do have to say it's interesting to see how you consistently refer to pregnancy as a "problem". It really demonstrates how much you don'...
wrote, "I do have to say it's interesting to see how you consistently refer to pregnancy as a "problem". It really demonstrates how much you don't want to have kids..." It depends on the point of view.
I want to stress that I am not criticizing people who have children, at all. The purpose of this post is to defend my decision not to have children from the "save-the-family" movement, or as some like to call them, the Dobsonites. Their contention is that it's selfish...
If number of posts is an indication of the success of an LJ post, the last one could be one of my most successful ever. I'm very happy with the discussion stirr...
If number of posts is an indication of the success of an LJ post, the last one could be one of my most successful ever. I'm very happy with the discussion stirred up, and that was just within my friends list.
I'm pro-choice, and that means either choice. I also believe choices are based on things. "Choice" is not a synonym for "random whim." (I'm not saying the choice to keep, or the choice to abort, an unintended pregnancy is a random whim, it could be very thought out.) How...
It's hearing horror stories like this that make me want to get a vasectomy quick. Can someone explain to me why, in this day when women get veto power over whet...
It's hearing horror stories like this that make me want to get a vasectomy quick. Can someone explain to me why, in this day when women get veto power over whether or not to become mothers, men don't get veto power over whether or not to become fathers? This is something I need to think about some more.
A confused little girl has the chance to prevent a pre-human fertilized cell, an undifferentiated bloblet of mindless tissue, from awakening into a conscious human with the right to life and the ...
Yes, it's true. I went camping. Saturday my grandfather spontaneously decided to take my family out to dinner today (Sunday) to celebrate my birthday. (A month ...
Yes, it's true. I went camping. Saturday my grandfather spontaneously decided to take my family out to dinner today (Sunday) to celebrate my birthday. (A month late, but who's counting?) None of them expected that I would be out of cell phone range all weekend and that I would only find out about it while driving home too late. All my adult life these spontaneous Sunday dinners worked out with the kind of always-at-home schedule I used to keep, or at least worked out with my addiction to communi...
I am pleased to report that hope pings eternal in the Linux-for-humans breast.
The problem with installing an application from CD to the laptop was a defect on ...
I am pleased to report that hope pings eternal in the Linux-for-humans breast.
The problem with installing an application from CD to the laptop was a defect on the disk. My frustration was before I found the package manager, or to borrow a phrase I once heard use, "the Magical Man that Gets Things Done." The Ubuntu folks on the IRC channel assure me that new users are not expected to compile source code or hack scripts every time they want to install applications. It is not normal and ...
From BoingBoing.net:
Astronomer Sues NASA
_
A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S...
From BoingBoing.net:
Astronomer Sues NASA
_
A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday.
_
"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal docu...
Last night we drove down to East Lansing for Cory Doctorow's book signing. It was impossible to get there in time for his reading, but I bought his latest novel...
Last night we drove down to East Lansing for Cory Doctorow's book signing. It was impossible to get there in time for his reading, but I bought his latest novel Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town and got it signed. Also Cory transferred the digital version from his handheld to mine, in person, which is as close to a signing as it can get in that format without being in the Second Life online game.
Comments
netmouse on Jul. 6, 2005 7:03 PM
hmmm... will you lend _Someone Comes To Town, So...
Via : "Join the movement to have faerie chainism taught in schools!" Just because objects fell downward yesterday and every day during the life of eve...
Via : "Join the movement to have faerie chainism taught in schools!" Just because objects fell downward yesterday and every day during the life of every being who has ever lived to report about it does not mean it did so before that; and it doesn't mean objects won't fall some other direction tomorrow. Having discredited the theory of gravitation we now can demand equal time for the theory of chains of faeries pulling everything toward the earth.
As anyone knows, a theory is just an un...
According the the site I got this picture from:
"Doctors have concluded that if you find the man hiding in the coffee beans in three seconds that the right...
According the the site I got this picture from:
"Doctors have concluded that if you find the man hiding in the coffee beans in three seconds that the right half of your brain is better developed than that of most people.
_
If you find the man between three seconds and one minute, then the right half of your brain is developed normally.
If you find the man between one minute and three minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein.
If you ha...
OK, here are the redeeming facts as near as I can ascertain them:
You possibly do not need to use the command line in Linux until you're actually getting some u...
OK, here are the redeeming facts as near as I can ascertain them:
You possibly do not need to use the command line in Linux until you're actually getting some use from your system first.
There is a program in the graphical user interface, which you can get to from the System menu, called Synaptic Package Manager. Search among thousands of quality programs and just tell your powerful servant to get them for you. It will cover for your inadequacies without you ever having to sacrifice a chicken to...
I can't get any sleep thinking about it so I might as well express it. At least I don't have to go to work tomorrow.
I had a huge epiphany today about Linux. I ...
I can't get any sleep thinking about it so I might as well express it. At least I don't have to go to work tomorrow.
I had a huge epiphany today about Linux. I sat there and said "what the hell am I even doing this for?" Remind me again (I asked myself), what is the benefit in this, to me? When is the last time Windows crashed? I can't remember. What do I want to run on Linux that I can't run on Windows? I have Firefox, Open Office and The Gimp on Windows. This week I've been using fre...
I've put the CD for Tux Racer into the drive of the laptop. Double-clicking the CD brings up this screen. I have clicked a variety of these icons, such as INSTA...
I've put the CD for Tux Racer into the drive of the laptop. Double-clicking the CD brings up this screen. I have clicked a variety of these icons, such as INSTALL and Setup.exe and nothing happened. What am I supposed to do?
Also, I used apt-get to install a music composition program called Rosegarden. It's not in the Applications menu. This has had no noticeable effect on the computer as far as I can tell. Where am I supposed to look to open this program?
Comments
paranthropus on Jul. 3, 2005 ...
Victory! Dan DeSloover from Monroe Linux User Group has gotten 's laptop to work with the network. Ironically, I recently installed Ubuntu on it to fix the diff...
Victory! Dan DeSloover from Monroe Linux User Group has gotten 's laptop to work with the network. Ironically, I recently installed Ubuntu on it to fix the difficulty we had with getting WinXP to network. I am typing this on Linux. Awesome!
Comments
none
Taken from :
"Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me. It can only be one word. No more. Then copy & paste this in your journa...
Taken from :
"Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me. It can only be one word. No more. Then copy & paste this in your journal so that I may leave a word about you."
Comments
dawnwolf on Jun. 29, 2005 7:50 PM
Passionate
twoofdtm on Jun. 29, 2005 7:50 PM
Enigma
eternalmaiden on Jun. 29, 2005 7:59 PM
intelligent
fuzzyjelly on Jun. 29, 2005 9:10 PM
Erudite.
(I went to thesaurus.com)
sarahmichigan on Jun. 29, 2005 9:48 PM
polymathic
cosette-valjean on Ju...
Part Five, Conclusion: Improved Playability With Computer Graphic Mediation
Computer graphics allow chesslike games to finally escape the restrictions placed on...
Part Five, Conclusion: Improved Playability With Computer Graphic Mediation
Computer graphics allow chesslike games to finally escape the restrictions placed on them by equipment. It's frustrating that most simulations offered so far are simulations of traditional physical equipment. They carry over the limitations of inert pieces of matter!
One such limitation is that physical equipment can't automatically morph into different configurations at the touch of a button. There need not be one openi...
had a great suggestion in the comments to yesterday's installment: It might make a more interesting and difficult game if the two players could choose from a su...
had a great suggestion in the comments to yesterday's installment: It might make a more interesting and difficult game if the two players could choose from a subset of the available pieces. They would each have to have a certain number of each type of nearly equivalent pieces but not necessarily the same pieces as their opponent.
Building and deploying an army and then playing with it is a game called "meta-chess," and David Howe has a great proposal for it at this link on Chessvariant...
Yesterday we covered pieces which can go to any space on a one-dimensional path until they meet an obstruction. That's why they're called line movers. If we rea...
Yesterday we covered pieces which can go to any space on a one-dimensional path until they meet an obstruction. That's why they're called line movers. If we really wanted to extrapolate Chess faithfully into 3D we would have the ability to cage the King and push him into a corner the way a Rook or Queen can do in chess. In 3D the King can dodge over or under their line of attack. Not so with plane movers, which would be able to go to any space in a 2D plane that they are standing on. But it's ju...
To wrap up yesterday's discussion, FIDE Chess is just another variant that happens to have won a monopoly on mindshare, but just because we can change it doesn'...
To wrap up yesterday's discussion, FIDE Chess is just another variant that happens to have won a monopoly on mindshare, but just because we can change it doesn't mean we want to set out to design a card game involving charades and throwing a ball through a hoop. What are we talking about when we say "chesslike"? It's a radial category, so a game can change a few of the following elements and still be recognizably chesslike. Typically, this category of game has no secret information and...
This is the beginning of an illustrated series exploring the possibilities of chess in three-dimensions, in preparation for the construction set that I'm sculpt...
This is the beginning of an illustrated series exploring the possibilities of chess in three-dimensions, in preparation for the construction set that I'm sculpting and casting. It will be fun and accessible for the non-specialist, but I advise you to do stretches first for flexibility, or it might hurt when I shove Byzantine shapes through the sphincter of your mind's eye.
1. What This Is & Is Not
2. Which Way Is Diagonal?
3. Leapers: More Than One Knight
4. The Board, or "Matrix":...
This survey is for those who keep weblogs. At no point during or after taking it did was I informed of who Cameron was or why he needed to be freed, so caveat e...
This survey is for those who keep weblogs. At no point during or after taking it did was I informed of who Cameron was or why he needed to be freed, so caveat emptor. I need a T-Shirt reading "I went to a survey about blogs and all I got was this lousy choice of banners to post to my site." In the interest of full disclosure and truth in advertising (such as it is) I took all of them.
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While looking at satellite imagery on Google Maps, I discovered something so big that you don't even notice it at the ground level. Go to maps.google.com, click...
While looking at satellite imagery on Google Maps, I discovered something so big that you don't even notice it at the ground level. Go to maps.google.com, click on southeast Michigan in the map of America, and zoom in on Macomb County. There is a "zoom" control that looks like a ladder on the upper left, under the video game directional pad. You can drag the map to scroll it. OK, now go to I696, viewing right between Hoover and Schoenherr. Magnification should be the second rung from t...
Visualize for a moment that we have binocular-vision LCD glasses that display a 3-dimensional chesslike game. The glasses superimpose images onto a transparent ...
Visualize for a moment that we have binocular-vision LCD glasses that display a 3-dimensional chesslike game. The glasses superimpose images onto a transparent view of the wearer's real environment-- not virtual reality, but augmented reality. Imagine also that we have one or two telemetry gloves. The index finger and thumb are tracked in 3D and 'mouse click' when they touch-- the two fingertips are displayed as two cursors floating in the image. I would want to play this game.
Most chess games ...
Not only is this week's issue of The Onion set in the future, the horoscopes page satirizes major science fiction creators and influences. Hilarious!
Comments
...
Not only is this week's issue of The Onion set in the future, the horoscopes page satirizes major science fiction creators and influences. Hilarious!
Comments
sarahmichigan on Jun. 22, 2005 3:31 PM
The Asimov/Clarke one brought to mind the "Technomage" episode of B5, second season.
Yes, I'm a sci-fi dork.
"There are over 8 billion web pages. Most of them suck." --Outfoxed
noticed in my last post that I applied tags to it. Tags are important. Google succ...
"There are over 8 billion web pages. Most of them suck." --Outfoxed
noticed in my last post that I applied tags to it. Tags are important. Google succeeded because they realized you can't hierarchically categorize the web like Yahoo tried to do. Unfortunately Google is getting inundated with people cheating its page-rank system. The web will soon depend on metadata, which usually takes the form of descriptive keyword tags. But the only people who can possibly apply them to 8 billion we...
This is my daydream today.
Imagine that we live in a post-scarcity society. We take high-speed planes or subterranean trains that acheive orbital speeds in vacu...
This is my daydream today.
Imagine that we live in a post-scarcity society. We take high-speed planes or subterranean trains that acheive orbital speeds in vacuum-pressurized tunnels to commute transcontinentally to work. Or we telecommute. Our houses float with autonomous utilities and water recycling. We can travel and socialize and be at home, all at the same time. The offline world is becoming more like the internet: physical location is not so demanding anymore.
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A very successful suggestion generator!
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I mig...
A very successful suggestion generator!
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. [board games](http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=board games) score: 7
2. games score: 7
3. [card games](http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=card games) score: 5
4. surrealism score: 5
5. dystopias score: 5
6. icehouse score: 5
7. science score: 4
8. synaesthesia score: 4
9. zendo score: 4
10. gam...
Dear friends list,
you're all invited to my 31st birthday party at Bill Putt's house! The pool heater is broken, so despite this being a Blasted Bill party we d...
Dear friends list,
you're all invited to my 31st birthday party at Bill Putt's house! The pool heater is broken, so despite this being a Blasted Bill party we don't expect any nudity-- the traditional skinny-dipping is unlikely. However, if you want to be there past about 11 PM, I warn you that you should be the kind of person who isn't bothered by a few folks getting naked for no reason. Because at Bill's parties you never know. E-mail me for directions at matt.mattarn@gmail.com.
Comments
flut...
Lost Garden has an article on risk/reward systems in game design theory as applied to the Gameboy DS title "Nintendogs." "If you dig into the gam...
Lost Garden has an article on risk/reward systems in game design theory as applied to the Gameboy DS title "Nintendogs." "If you dig into the game mechanics at an abstract level, it has surprisingly more in common with a RPG than most virtual pet games. Yet hardcore gamers make a snap judgement and instantly assume it must be a Tamagotchi-style game. ... The theoretical designer realizes that a powerup is a powerup whether you call it a 'Quad Damage' or a 'Doggy Brush'."
Simi...
"List five songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words or even if they're any good but the...
"List five songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words or even if they're any good but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artist and the song in your blog along with your five songs."
When it comes to music, I'm not ashamed to be unreservedly sentimental. I even listen to Josh Groban despite the fact that all his lyrics are hormonally-deluded juvenile romanticism-- who cares?...
Did you really think that every modern bible believer accepts the findings of Copernicus? Witness so-called Creation Science in its purest and least hypocritica...
Did you really think that every modern bible believer accepts the findings of Copernicus? Witness so-called Creation Science in its purest and least hypocritical form. Geocentricity.com is the homepage of the Biblical Astronomy Association. They attempt to prove the existence of "the firmament" using sophistries and fallacious reasoning clothed in scientific language. All that serves as a good education in how to detect their type of pseudoscience through its comparison with other pseu...
http://www.nemorathwald.com/SFandF.htm
Now that the website of the Mundane SF Manifesto is no longer down I have finally read the real thing instead of a repres...
http://www.nemorathwald.com/SFandF.htm
Now that the website of the Mundane SF Manifesto is no longer down I have finally read the real thing instead of a representation from its critics. I've been looking forward to getting to the bottom of it ever since the storm came down from Ian MacDonald, Charlie Stross, Lou Anders, Patrick Neilsen Hayden and Gabe Chouinard (whose mostly empty post started with listless ennui and morphed into an embarassing tantrum), and others.
Ian McDonald writes, "I...
A web page titled Quotes from the American Taliban. I'm not going to let myself comment. Just read it.
Comments
sarahmichigan on Jun. 7, 2005 5:12 PM
I am conc...
A web page titled Quotes from the American Taliban. I'm not going to let myself comment. Just read it.
Comments
sarahmichigan on Jun. 7, 2005 5:12 PM
I am concerned, though not particularly surprised or outraged, by the quotes from the religous leaders. But the quotes from our elected representatives scare the be-jesus (pun intended) out of me.
And, don't you think the Rev. Phelps really needs a good ass-fucking? Why else would he be so obsessed with the homo-SEX-you-alls?
phecda on Jun. 7, 20...
At this week's meeting of the Macomb Oakland Fan Organization, my brother told me about an old man who my dad knows. All this man wants to do with his computer ...
At this week's meeting of the Macomb Oakland Fan Organization, my brother told me about an old man who my dad knows. All this man wants to do with his computer is use e-mail. When my dad serviced his friend's computer, it was so full of viruses that you had to wait almost ten minutes just for the "My Computer" desktop icon to respond. Depending on the hardware he's on, those two facts make him the perfect user of Linux with the Thunderbird e-mail client. However, before I recommend thi...
My science fiction recommendations list (in progress) just didn't feel complete without the little cartoon panel from Sinfest that I just fan-modded for it.
Com...
My science fiction recommendations list (in progress) just didn't feel complete without the little cartoon panel from Sinfest that I just fan-modded for it.
Comments
none
I've compiled my Livejournal entries on science fiction to a new page on my website. Before the internet, these probably would have been Letters Of Comment in a...
I've compiled my Livejournal entries on science fiction to a new page on my website. Before the internet, these probably would have been Letters Of Comment in a treeware magazine or newsletter.
Comments
netmouse on Jun. 2, 2005 9:35 PM
heh. he said "treeware"...
*grin*
matt-arnold on Jun. 3, 2005 3:01 AM
Of course I can't take credit for coining the term though. Like it?
cathyr19355 on Jun. 4, 2005 4:52 AM
You're more or less right. Before the Interne, fen wrote comments to each oth...
Nanodot has this report:
You may laugh, or at least smile, but the environmental benefits already resulting from the so-called nanotech toilet are substantial. ...
Nanodot has this report:
You may laugh, or at least smile, but the environmental benefits already resulting from the so-called nanotech toilet are substantial. With a “roughness” reported at under 30 nanometers, evidently these fixtures need much less cleaning, which means much less of that nasty chemical cleanser going down the drain. Oh, and they should be healthier for users too. Read the whole thing, on ExtremeNano by the prolific Norm Wu.
Comments
ericthemage on Jun. 1, 2005 3:54 PM
Why no...
Luke Ski is performing a comedy concert right here, right now, at 1:30 in the morning in CafePenguicon! There is a standing-room only audience of 45 in this par...
Luke Ski is performing a comedy concert right here, right now, at 1:30 in the morning in CafePenguicon! There is a standing-room only audience of 45 in this party suite! Pretty girls are expressing how much they love Tux, game software developers are signing up their companies to be represented at Penguicon, the food and fine wines are plentiful, I was complimented on my espresso drinks, and Larry Niven was here an hour ago for a while!
It's a fun night.
Comments
none
I'm already two-thirds through my 12 volunteering hours to be comped. I might go ahead and go 18 hours to get a free Marcon T-shirt.
I like this internet cafe. ...
I'm already two-thirds through my 12 volunteering hours to be comped. I might go ahead and go 18 hours to get a free Marcon T-shirt.
I like this internet cafe. It's 8 AM and I'm getting my caffiene fix while waiting for the volunteer table to open. I used this cyber espresso bar when I was here for Origins a couple of years ago. But Aaron and I had to make coffee in the room this morning. Can you believe they close Consuite from 3 to 9 AM at this convention? We've been touting the fact that Peng...
Here I am at Marcon in Columbus, Ohio with Bill Putt, Aaron Thul and Davroz. We had a fun and highly computerized road trip. We checked in, registered, and volu...
Here I am at Marcon in Columbus, Ohio with Bill Putt, Aaron Thul and Davroz. We had a fun and highly computerized road trip. We checked in, registered, and volunteered to be gophers. I am in Consuite keeping a watchful eye on the food table while blogging. I'm two hours into my required twelve hours of work to be compensated my attendance fee. I'm getting lots of comments on the seven ribbon-laden convention badges with which I am festooned. Blog more later- right now I must top off the nachos!
...
I just purchased Charles Stross' Hugo-and-Nebula nominated story "Lobsters" from Fictionwise.com. While reading about the protagonist getting slashdot...
I just purchased Charles Stross' Hugo-and-Nebula nominated story "Lobsters" from Fictionwise.com. While reading about the protagonist getting slashdotted, I'm wondering how the internet is changing not just the content of science fiction, but how we read it. Back in the good old days, as Eric S. Raymond describes in this essay, SF readers had to educate themselves in SF tropes to fully appreciate what they were reading. Reading SF is not a passive experience; the reader participates in...
I'm LMAO. You've got to read this parody article on Locus Online:
http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Features/0401_Stross.html
Charles Stross Attains Posthuman Status...
I'm LMAO. You've got to read this parody article on Locus Online:
http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Features/0401_Stross.html
Charles Stross Attains Posthuman Status
"... Aussie critic and potential "Spiker" himself, Damien Broderick, comments, "I tried to visit [Greg] Egan years ago, and found myself stuck in a timelike infinity loop once I got too close to his nominal address. Only the concerted efforts of Stephen Baxter, Vernor Vinge and Greg Bear were able to free me."
Co...
As reported by BoingBoing.net, Science fiction author Charlie Stross has started a Wiki called Singularity! A tough guide to the rapture of the nerds. The state...
As reported by BoingBoing.net, Science fiction author Charlie Stross has started a Wiki called Singularity! A tough guide to the rapture of the nerds. The stated intent is to learn about the Singularity, but this would only be true in roughly the same sense that QuackWatch is a site to "learn about" alternative medicine. What Stross has written in his wiki so far is pretty funny, but it's difficult to interpret his intent as anything but debunking and ridicule. I recommmend Eliezer Yud...
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- Even Jesus Christ can't circumvent the rules for getting a driver's license in West Virginia.
Attempts to prove his name reall...
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- Even Jesus Christ can't circumvent the rules for getting a driver's license in West Virginia.
Attempts to prove his name really is Christ have led the man born as Peter Robert Phillips Jr. through a lengthy legal battle and a recent victory in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
"This all started with him expressing his faith and his respect and love for Jesus Christ," attorney A.P. Pishevar told The Associated Press. "Now he needs to docum...
coi rodo (hello all) The first and second twice-monthly meetings of Michigan Lojban Class at my house have been a lot of fun. The first time we had Bruce and , ...
coi rodo (hello all) The first and second twice-monthly meetings of Michigan Lojban Class at my house have been a lot of fun. The first time we had Bruce and , the second time Bruce and Shaun. We had a laptop with TV-out, a whiteboard, our copies of The Complete Lojban Language and What Is Lojban?, and pizza. We've decided to translate The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. This satisfies our criteria:
#1 It reads as if it was optimized to be translated, as if it were a simplistic translation into Englis...
If you're using Firefox instead of Explorer to surf the web, you can install an extension called Greasemonkey. This allows the user to change specific sites the...
If you're using Firefox instead of Explorer to surf the web, you can install an extension called Greasemonkey. This allows the user to change specific sites they visit. The site that shows up in your browser will look as if that site's creators had intended it to be that way. Different scripts are written every day for you to download: Take all the ads off of Google. Or display competitor's prices on every book you look at in Amazon. Or put very useful persistent searches in Gmail. Or put a link...
The Keys to Your Heart
You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.
- What exactly does th...
The Keys to Your Heart
You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.
- What exactly does this mean?
In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you.
- Certainly not. Although all the same, that is what I've got.
You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.
- As opposed to... what?
You would be forced to break up with someone who was insecure and in constant ne...
Click here to read a riveting news story on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's a story of child brides, rabid racism, multiple wives, and a se...
Click here to read a riveting news story on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's a story of child brides, rabid racism, multiple wives, and a secretive, religious dictator. A new Waco confrontation could be imminent.
David Allen Steed leads "a breakaway Mormon sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS)."
"In the two years since he became prophet, Jeffs has ordered all dogs shot; closed the town zoo; forbidden television, hol...
Having read his editorial against homosexuality as the downfall of civilization in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, NC, I nominate Orson Scott Card as the fi...
Having read his editorial against homosexuality as the downfall of civilization in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, NC, I nominate Orson Scott Card as the first president of The Nonexistent Liberation Front. This fanciful organization would champion the right of the non-existent to be granted existence. The money quote follows:
"All the while, the P.C. elite will be shouting at dismayed parents that it is somehow evil and bigoted of them not to rejoice when their children commit themselv...
The same animation studio and acclaimed director who created Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro also produced Grave of the Fireflies, about the firebombing of...
The same animation studio and acclaimed director who created Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro also produced Grave of the Fireflies, about the firebombing of Japan during WWII. AVN showed it last night and I'm still recovering. This animated film is the most relentlessly heartbreaking movie I've ever seen. The protagonists are a teenage boy, and a four-year-old girl that is exactly like my four-year-old niece. During the movie their home, school, workplace and even their mother all burn; they...
This morning while changing R's flat tire, I finished removing the last Penguicon cargo from the trunk. In one box for some reason there was a DVD of Contact, b...
This morning while changing R's flat tire, I finished removing the last Penguicon cargo from the trunk. In one box for some reason there was a DVD of Contact, based on Carl Sagan's novel and starring Jody Foster and Matthew McConaughey. Does anyone happen to know how it got there? I've always wanted to own this film, so to whoever lost it, thank you.
Comments
fraggedone on May. 3, 2005 2:44 PM
I know for a fact that the Contact DVD came out of the auditorium, and was told that it belonged to wh...
Langmaker, the website about artificial languages, accepted my submission and posted my article on their homepage. I would have posted about it at the time but ...
Langmaker, the website about artificial languages, accepted my submission and posted my article on their homepage. I would have posted about it at the time but I missed it completely while running Penguicon.
In other publicity-related news, Michigan radio ran a 5-minute spot about Penguicon on "Stateside with Charity Nebbe" on Friday, and you can download the audio file here. It starts at 10 minutes and 50 seconds into the show, so pull the scroll bar over to the right until it reaches...
Cory Doctorow posted to BoingBoing today with Time Management for Anarchists, a Flash animation by a productive anarcho-geek. It brought to mind some of the ele...
Cory Doctorow posted to BoingBoing today with Time Management for Anarchists, a Flash animation by a productive anarcho-geek. It brought to mind some of the elements in the volunteer-management conversation I had recently with .
Comments
paranthropus on Apr. 29, 2005 3:25 PM
Very funny stuff, and useful!
When I was in school I used a ratty, duct-taped little 3x5 loose leaf notebook that I fished out of the garbage. With some custom printed calendar and to-do pages and a paper clip indexing syst...
OpenCola wouldn't carbonate very much. However, it tasted much, much better than it did when completely flat. Next year we'll do two things to make it a fizzier...
OpenCola wouldn't carbonate very much. However, it tasted much, much better than it did when completely flat. Next year we'll do two things to make it a fizzier soft drink: carbonate the water before mixing it with the syrup, and use phosphoric acid instead of citric acid. The citric acid made us radically reduce the orange, lime and lemon oils in the flavor formula to compensate for its taste. We made several improvements to the recipe, so the "Penguicon build" of OpenCola will go on ...
Our guests may not have drawn crowds but they were the kind of guests that rock the casbah. Each of them was praised to the skies by their fans. Which reminds m...
Our guests may not have drawn crowds but they were the kind of guests that rock the casbah. Each of them was praised to the skies by their fans. Which reminds me: Cory Doctorow lives up to his own self-marketing. He rocked Penguicon. He embodied Penguicon. His buddies Joey "accordionguy" deVilla and Wil Wheaton had to cancel their appearances but he did get to see Nat Torkington.
I'm still humming the tunes from "Buffy The Musical." That was the highlight of most people's con...
Comment here with your name and I'll tell you something I adore (or at least mildly like) about you. Afterwards, copy and paste this into your own journal.
Comm...
Comment here with your name and I'll tell you something I adore (or at least mildly like) about you. Afterwards, copy and paste this into your own journal.
Comments
stormgren on Apr. 25, 2005 7:28 PM
All right, Mr Arnold, I'll bite.
What factoid about me do you like?
matt-arnold on Apr. 25, 2005 7:50 PM
I like your hat.
petri33 on Apr. 25, 2005 7:33 PM
It's been a long time since we've talked Matt. I think you might enjoy my livejournal. While I do, on occasion, just ramble about my life, mos...
There's a lot for me to say about Penguicon over the next few days. Three of my events were very successful and popular and are requested for next year by popul...
There's a lot for me to say about Penguicon over the next few days. Three of my events were very successful and popular and are requested for next year by popular acclaim: the Pantropia game on a Hoberman sphere, the Lojban class and the coffee ritual. Also I'm pleased to have received plenty of appreciation for the program book and wall schedule.
I was stressed out about the info kiosks on Friday. They worked and worked and worked, and then got to the hotel and stopped working. The invaluable w...
Now to hear from the bright and happy good news department. What have we got on that side of the register today?
- A new client has asked me to do freelance gra...
Now to hear from the bright and happy good news department. What have we got on that side of the register today?
- A new client has asked me to do freelance graphic design work!
- This weekend is Penguicon! We will once again call carnivals into existence with the power of our minds!
- My dad called and said he's got this Saturday off, and wanted to know how much admission to Penguicon costs. He wanted to attend.
- Soon I will have the time to resume going to Denny's on Saturday mornings with , ...
Bill called me from the side of the road to say his car broke down on the way back from picking his girlfriend up from the airport.
This is after my car overhea...
Bill called me from the side of the road to say his car broke down on the way back from picking his girlfriend up from the airport.
This is after my car overheated on Monday. I'm basically sharing the car of the ever-patient and giving . When she picks me up we've got to go to Ann Arbor to pick up the pocket programs.
Comments
rikhei on Apr. 20, 2005 9:23 PM
I work odd hours (2-10 tomorrow, 9-5ish Friday), but if there's something I can do that involves a car, let me know.
matt-arnold on Apr. ...
For all the benefit of the communications plan I devised last year for Penguicon 3.0, it has one drawback. With the four or five different versions I'm maintain...
For all the benefit of the communications plan I devised last year for Penguicon 3.0, it has one drawback. With the four or five different versions I'm maintaining, it's difficult to track all the changes in multiple places.
1. programming's original spreadsheet,
2. website programming page,
3. program book PDF from InDesign,
4. pocket program PDF from InDesign,
5. kiosk html documents,
6. Master Wall Schedule document,
7. signs on the door of each room listing the events there,
8. Palm OS sched...
Because of out-of-pocket Penguicon expenses, I have been scrimping and saving all week waiting to get paid today. And then I e-filed last night. I owe my entire...
Because of out-of-pocket Penguicon expenses, I have been scrimping and saving all week waiting to get paid today. And then I e-filed last night. I owe my entire $750 paycheck to the government, and they are undoubtedly using the e-filing electronic automatic debit as we speak. It's a good thing I can eat in the Consuite for free next weekend, because my diet will consist of breakfast cereal and peanut butter sandwiches for about a month.
{edited to add: I just filled out the form for Michigan ta...
In a recent reply on this blog to 's question
I get the impression that you feel our political system should reflect Christian morality - if that's so, may I as...
In a recent reply on this blog to 's question
I get the impression that you feel our political system should reflect Christian morality - if that's so, may I ask how you feel about the doctrine of separation of church and state?
said:
This country was founded on Christian morality. The seperation of church and state was created so the government would not interfere with the church, not vice versa.
What this fails to take into account is that the involvement of your church in the state is state i...
There is an interesting conversation on 's blog between those who discard Jesus of Nazareth and those who prefer to salvage the good parts of his teachings. But...
There is an interesting conversation on 's blog between those who discard Jesus of Nazareth and those who prefer to salvage the good parts of his teachings. But how can you be a Christian who says Jesus is sometimes wrong? Isn't that a contradiction in terms when it comes to a man who demands nothing less than your complete and utter subjugation? Describing the level of sacrifice that he requires, he compares it to your horrific death by torture: Matthew 10:38; Matthew 10:37-39 Matthew 16:24; Ma...
You might enjoy the discussion I am having with a young Christian lady on my entry about Terry Schiavo's death. I certainly am. Unfortunately, it seems that tha...
You might enjoy the discussion I am having with a young Christian lady on my entry about Terry Schiavo's death. I certainly am. Unfortunately, it seems that that entry upset her.
Edited to add:
This is as good a time as any to mention a strange remark Bill Putt made the other day. "Matt," he said, "for an atheist, you're the best Christian I have ever known." Naturally I was surprised by this. He says I kept the good teachings and discarded the bad ones. What a nice thing to ...
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Shuriken of Love and Mercy.
Get yours.
Comments
cosette-valjean on Apr. 11, 2005 10:47 PM — Hee-hee
Mine is Sister Pepper S...
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Shuriken of Love and Mercy.
Get yours.
Comments
cosette-valjean on Apr. 11, 2005 10:47 PM — Hee-hee
Mine is Sister Pepper Spray of Enlightened Compassion.
chrispullen on Apr. 16, 2005 3:56 AM — My name...
Mine is: Sibling Katana of Enlightened Compassion...I like it.
Why must the one in charge of the program book have such bad luck with printers? I have three printers sitting in this room and none of them work.
Comments
sha...
Why must the one in charge of the program book have such bad luck with printers? I have three printers sitting in this room and none of them work.
Comments
shatteredglobe on Apr. 10, 2005 5:37 AM
ugh, that does indeed suck.
raendrop on Apr. 10, 2005 6:32 AM
Cosmic irony? Poetic injustice?
phecda on Apr. 10, 2005 1:23 PM
There's the HP Laser in the basement. Should it not print, you may have to hit the "GO" button (seems to get caught up on a language? question on the menu).
From this link. Go read it! It's hilarious. I am reminded of and I -- except, of course, that she and I get along well and take a sincere interest in each other...
From this link. Go read it! It's hilarious. I am reminded of and I -- except, of course, that she and I get along well and take a sincere interest in each other's interests. This is the story of what might have happened had we met a decade earlier than we did.
Received from an English Professor:
_
This assignment was actually turned in by two of my English students:
Rebecca (last name deleted) and Gary (last name deleted)
English 44A, SMU, Creative Writing
Professor Miller
In-class assignment fo...
A reporter on the scene in Pinellas Park told us on PCCboard the events surrounding the death of Terri Schaivo and was quite upset that the Schindlers were not ...
A reporter on the scene in Pinellas Park told us on PCCboard the events surrounding the death of Terri Schaivo and was quite upset that the Schindlers were not allowed to be present and Michael Schaivo immediately left. The reporter was also upset by a phone call he had with Michael Schaivo's brother because Michael, in the reporter's opinion, "was too much of a wuss to talk to me." Michael's brother chose his words very poorly. The short version of the story is this.
Michael Schiavo, ...
You know I am not having a very good day when I tell a Republican Party Organizer on PCCboard the following: "If I see even one judge or their families get...
You know I am not having a very good day when I tell a Republican Party Organizer on PCCboard the following: "If I see even one judge or their families get hurt with the contact info you're distributing, I'm taking your words straight to the authorities to make sure you get put behind bars where you belong."
This is because he said, "we identify liberal judges. We publish their pictures online along with their contact information. When they make bad rulings, we call them at the of...
The 2005 World Fair in Aichi Japan has a wonderful website. Check out the pavilions. This World Fair is incredibly robotized, by the way. I'm not talking about ...
The 2005 World Fair in Aichi Japan has a wonderful website. Check out the pavilions. This World Fair is incredibly robotized, by the way. I'm not talking about Disney's Audio-Animatronics. I mean white plastic robots that walk around and see their environment and interact with it, offering to guide visitors to their destination or just sweeping up the trash. I want one.
I really need to not look at this so much-- it's threatening to my finances. Last week I got out my gigantic Disney Imagineerin...
Last time I posted this I think all of you skipped over it, since memes are ordinarily so boring. So I'm posting it again. I picked up this meme from and . Take...
Last time I posted this I think all of you skipped over it, since memes are ordinarily so boring. So I'm posting it again. I picked up this meme from and . Take the timeline and fill in the story of your past and your plans for the future.
30 years ago - 1974. I woke up in my mother's womb. This came as a surprise because the last thing I remembered, at the time, was going to sleep in 2012 at the age of 38.
25 years ago - 1980. By this time enough of my motor functions had developed that in orde...
This science-fiction rap video about being a robot is very good. You'll love it.
Comments
paranthropus on Mar. 25, 2005 11:46 PM
Very, very cool. I like it.
Th...
This science-fiction rap video about being a robot is very good. You'll love it.
Comments
paranthropus on Mar. 25, 2005 11:46 PM
Very, very cool. I like it.
There is probably so much stuff like this out there now that all the entertainment that anyone could possibly want is available with a broadband connection.
Zompist.com has a humorous set of notes that an artificial intelligence might need in order to pass the Turing Test. For example:
Clever questioners will ask ab...
Zompist.com has a humorous set of notes that an artificial intelligence might need in order to pass the Turing Test. For example:
Clever questioners will ask about your feelings. Safe responses: 1. I'm anxious. 2. I'm depressed. 3. I'm hungry. Bad responses: 1. I'm itchy. 2. I'm righteously indignant. 3. Constipation's gone!
Comments
none
Heavenly Perfection
You're 79% Poly =) 85% tolerant of the poly lifestyle =) (But... you're 26% just in it for the sex =))
Ooooooohhhh Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh
You're po...
Heavenly Perfection
You're 79% Poly =) 85% tolerant of the poly lifestyle =) (But... you're 26% just in it for the sex =))
Ooooooohhhh Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh
You're poly.
You're tolerant of poly lifestyle. (Good for you, you like yourself!)
You're not just here for the sex.
And you won't lie to your mate.
I *Like* YOU.
Congratualtions on being a pretty good person =)
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
less
The Stilyagi Spring Dance on Friday night was a wonderfully fun event. I felt the bond with the people around me more strongly than usual, and several friends a...
The Stilyagi Spring Dance on Friday night was a wonderfully fun event. I felt the bond with the people around me more strongly than usual, and several friends and strangers went out of their way to be sweet and friendly to me.
The party doubled as an informal business meeting, in which I was elected to the board of directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association. I'm qualified to be on the board basically because I possess the ability to show up for meetings. I think I have more flexibili...
I don't know how a subpoenae from Congress does any good to a breathing meat sack, formerly occupied by Terry Schiavo. Where's Dr. Kevorkian when you need him? ...
I don't know how a subpoenae from Congress does any good to a breathing meat sack, formerly occupied by Terry Schiavo. Where's Dr. Kevorkian when you need him? Oh that's right... prison.
Christian radio stations have become as emotionally hysterical and mindlessly foaming at the mouth as the anti-Castro Catholics got with Elian Gonzalez, when they were spreading stories about the Virgin Mary sending dolphins to guide Elian to shore. Now a Christian lady I'm talking to about this would have us be...
An audio file of Friday's Russ and Dee radio show is now online at:
http://www.subliminallusion.com/universism/031805russanddee.mp3
Having listened to the show ...
An audio file of Friday's Russ and Dee radio show is now online at:
http://www.subliminallusion.com/universism/031805russanddee.mp3
Having listened to the show again, personally, I think I hit it out of the ballpark.
My call-in begins about a third of the way through the file and ends about half-way through. I'd like to extract that section into a separate audio file for the convenience of my friends, but I don't know how and I don't have the web space.
Comments
raendrop on Mar. 21, 2005 4:12 A...
This morning two of my friends from Alabama in the Universism movement were guests on the Russ and Dee Show. After some Alabama listeners were discussing on Uni...
This morning two of my friends from Alabama in the Universism movement were guests on the Russ and Dee Show. After some Alabama listeners were discussing on Universism's "Faithless Community" chat room what they heard on the show, I called in and spent almost a half hour on the line with the host, my two friends, and a guest theologian. The Universists on the chat room were ecstatic about how I came off on the radio and responded to the theologian. I think it's been recorded and maybe ...
The Universist Movement will host the famed Professor Richard Dawkins for a live guest discussion at The Faithless Community on Sunday March 20th at 4PM Eastern...
The Universist Movement will host the famed Professor Richard Dawkins for a live guest discussion at The Faithless Community on Sunday March 20th at 4PM Eastern (9PM GMT).
Richard Dawkins' first book, The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he invented the concept of "memes," became an immediate international bestseller and was translated into all the major languages. Its sequel, The Extended Phenotype, followed in 1982. His other bestsellers include River Out of Eden (1995), Climbing Mount ...
The SF author Orson Scott Card posted an essay to a Mormon website about why Mormonism is incompatible with being openly homosexual.
This may come as a surprise...
The SF author Orson Scott Card posted an essay to a Mormon website about why Mormonism is incompatible with being openly homosexual.
This may come as a surprise to him, but the argument on which Mr. Card bases his entire essay actually is ethical relativity. Let us take an example. Either raping a woman is wrong because of the suffering of the victim, or it is wrong just because god happened to arbitrarily roll some dice and decree it. Mr. Card is among the type who would say the latter. "A...
According to Evolution As A Team Sport by Douglas Rushkoff, the Renaissance had many ways in which that which had been 2 dimensional became 3 dimensional. (Such...
According to Evolution As A Team Sport by Douglas Rushkoff, the Renaissance had many ways in which that which had been 2 dimensional became 3 dimensional. (Such as perspective painting, circumnavigating the globe, and calculus.) In the current web-enabled Renaissance, such trends continue. Read the article.
"Originally, the collective was the clan or the tribe - an entity defined no more by what members had in common with each other than what they had in opposition to the clan or tribe over...
The project to translate the Christian Bible into Lojban is working from English rather than Greek and Hebrew. It's apparently the Douay-Rheims translation. I t...
The project to translate the Christian Bible into Lojban is working from English rather than Greek and Hebrew. It's apparently the Douay-Rheims translation. I think we currently only have one or two Lojban-speakers in Israel and none in Greece that I know of; even if we did, they no longer speak Koine Greek in Greece.
Something recently occured to me that amused me very much. My community of origin believes in secondary inspiration; the doctrine that not only does God directly dictate every word...
How much of the way of life that a person chooses has to do with crafting an identity, a persona?
Take for instance those who join the Society for Creative Anac...
How much of the way of life that a person chooses has to do with crafting an identity, a persona?
Take for instance those who join the Society for Creative Anachronism, dance to "Under A Harvest Moon" by a Celtic acoustic band, protect the environment, shop at Whole Foods Market, collect fantasy art, worship aboriginal pantheons, study geneology, pay for alternative traditional remedies, and pine for the simpler and more romantic days of yore.
Consider those who attend science fiction ...
Oh, wow. After reading the DuckCon webpage about Blinkies and Critter Crunch, I wish so much that I had more vacation days. After Penguicon I'll have basically ...
Oh, wow. After reading the DuckCon webpage about Blinkies and Critter Crunch, I wish so much that I had more vacation days. After Penguicon I'll have basically used them all up. Maybe I'll just get a Saturday membership to DuckCon, drive down late Friday night after work, and leave Sunday morning. I'd have to figure out some kind of crash space though.
Comments
tammylc on Mar. 11, 2005 6:08 PM — Random Duckon story
As I said in my earlier post, I've only attended one Duckon, and I was only ther...
Marscon in Minneapolis, Minnesota was more of a media-oriented SF con than I'm used to, and also much more of a party con than we have here in Michigan. But I a...
Marscon in Minneapolis, Minnesota was more of a media-oriented SF con than I'm used to, and also much more of a party con than we have here in Michigan. But I appreciated the space technology track. I envy the space science room, which was full of models and computers running simulations. The Dementia concerts were especially good, and I enjoyed hearing , who was by far my favorite music artist among them.
One usually doesn't see many people dressed as Star Trek characters in Michigan, but there...
Have you heard of the folk wisdom that hardly anybody changes their mind after the age of thirty? At this point one's value set and view of the world is thought...
Have you heard of the folk wisdom that hardly anybody changes their mind after the age of thirty? At this point one's value set and view of the world is thought to be pretty much preserved in formaldehyde for life. Recently while having conversations about controversies I could feel my mental plasticity ossifying into "old person brain."
It does very little good to say things like "I might be wrong." That statement accomplishes very little to actually produce change because o...
Things I have done that those on my LJ friends list probably haven't.
#1. Recited the sinner's prayer out loud on my knees in a thick British movie villian acce...
Things I have done that those on my LJ friends list probably haven't.
#1. Recited the sinner's prayer out loud on my knees in a thick British movie villian accent while wearing a Captain Hook costume in front of two hundred people.
#2. Been in a relationship with a woman who I had previously been married to.
#3. Learned to speak an artificial language with a grammar based on formal predicate-argument logic systems.
#4. Playtested Disney's prototype virtual reality magic carpet ride system during...
The formula and equipment for OpenCola arrived today! Who wants to help brew the test batch?
Comments
brendand on Feb. 28, 2005 11:19 PM
How long does the brew...
The formula and equipment for OpenCola arrived today! Who wants to help brew the test batch?
Comments
brendand on Feb. 28, 2005 11:19 PM
How long does the brewing process take? I should be back in town Saturday. :)
matt-arnold on Feb. 28, 2005 11:52 PM
I'll be out of town at Marscon until Monday, but taking inventory I see that we're too low on a couple of ingredients anyway. Nutmeg oil, lime oil, food-grade gum arabic, 75% phosphoric acid, and carbonated water. I'll buy more of these and try ...
The Petals Around The Rose is a mind-teaser puzzle. Roll five dice. How many petals are around the rose? You say a number, and the person who knows the solution...
The Petals Around The Rose is a mind-teaser puzzle. Roll five dice. How many petals are around the rose? You say a number, and the person who knows the solution to the puzzle tells you the real answer. Then you roll again and again until you either figure out what "the rose" is or become insane. I am currently taking the latter option.
This is tormenting me. People say that the smarter you are the more difficult it is. I've been at it for three days. Obviously the expanse of my intelli...
Last night I went out and got a Socket 755 motherboard, a chip fan, a P4-ready 400 watt power supply, and thermal paste. I made sure to buy a board compatible w...
Last night I went out and got a Socket 755 motherboard, a chip fan, a P4-ready 400 watt power supply, and thermal paste. I made sure to buy a board compatible with the P4 CPU that had been given to me as a gift. You should have seen the salesperson when I proffered a static bag at him. "A friend gave me this P4 and put it in this busted mainboard." His eyes got big as saucers. After it became clear that he was not going to respond to this, I said, "Can you tell me what level of P4...
While examining human motivation at ConVocation, which I blogged about this weekend, I turned the microscope on my own views of the world, religious, relational...
While examining human motivation at ConVocation, which I blogged about this weekend, I turned the microscope on my own views of the world, religious, relational, and political. The techno-progressive Dale Carrico, with whom I had what might count as my first political debate last week over the connection between technology and libertarianism, sparked some thought on broader connections.
I can talk your ear off about secularism but I'm not very political. When I'm asked in a poll or a voting boot...
SWEET LARD AND HEAVENLY BUTTER.
The oqo handheld computer is a complete 1Ghz desktop system, with a slide-out thumb keyboard, running Windows, measuring less th...
SWEET LARD AND HEAVENLY BUTTER.
The oqo handheld computer is a complete 1Ghz desktop system, with a slide-out thumb keyboard, running Windows, measuring less than five inches across.
The pen works with a chip that senses a disturbance as the pen's coiled magnet enters a magnetic field just in front of the screen. A button on the pen switches polarity of the magnet, which the computer interprets as a mouse click. This pen is forty times more accurate than most touch screens, requires no batteries...
I just got back from a day at ConVocation, a local pagan convention. Since I'm not a pagan, many puzzled people have asked me to explain why I would do this. Th...
I just got back from a day at ConVocation, a local pagan convention. Since I'm not a pagan, many puzzled people have asked me to explain why I would do this. This was only beforehand-- not to the attendees of the convention itself, who seemed mostly indifferent to the presence of unbelievers. (At ConVocation, pretty much everybody is outside the beliefs of everybody else, and it's all accepted.) Simply put, it's a con, so it's an opportunity to meet new people while in the company of my existing...
Cory Doctorow asked to present a panel at Penguicon about "The Hidden Totalitarian Assumptions of I, Robot." I've been curious ever since he told me t...
Cory Doctorow asked to present a panel at Penguicon about "The Hidden Totalitarian Assumptions of I, Robot." I've been curious ever since he told me this.
Now it turns out he's published a new story about it on the Infinite Matrix website titled I, Robot. After the story he writes, "Last spring, in the wake of Ray Bradbury pitching a tantrum over Michael Moore appropriating the title of 'Fahrenheit 451' to make Fahrenheit 9/11, I conceived of a plan to write a series of stories wi...
I plan to go to ConVocation this Saturday to see what's up with that. It led me to recall this old Livejournal entry of mine:
The inventor of Pagan Chess tried ...
I plan to go to ConVocation this Saturday to see what's up with that. It led me to recall this old Livejournal entry of mine:
The inventor of Pagan Chess tried to theme this chess variant by making two boards, on one of which, dead pieces continue to operate after being captured. The "pagan" piece can cross between the living and dead boards. The game involves no pentacles, no sun wheels, no obelisks, and no talismans. The pieces are all different types of humans, not spirit quest anim...
Anders Sandberg made this raytraced image of Death cursing K. Eric Drexler for coming up with nanotechnology. It's based on this filk written by Eliezer Yudkows...
Anders Sandberg made this raytraced image of Death cursing K. Eric Drexler for coming up with nanotechnology. It's based on this filk written by Eliezer Yudkowski titled, "Curse You Eric Drexler" or "It's Hard To Be A Zombie." I love it. In case the page ever disappears from the web, here is Eliezer's text:
This song is dedicated to the person with open sores, a cleaver sticking out, blood all over his shirt, and mold growing on him, who saw my "Singularity 2005" T...
0wnzored is from Cory Doctorow's collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More. I love it because it expresses the direct connection between the hacker culture a...
0wnzored is from Cory Doctorow's collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More. I love it because it expresses the direct connection between the hacker culture and transhumanism. For that matter, depending how far you want to take the "root-level superuser of your own body" idea and extend it to the mind, it expresses the potential connection between those two and technopaganism.
Though the story is fiction, "Honorable Computing," described in 0wnz0red as "your basic Bond...
Lots of people do fan art. I do fan art of Penguicon. Don't expect to see this art on the new website, or for that matter, to see it ever again. But it took a l...
Lots of people do fan art. I do fan art of Penguicon. Don't expect to see this art on the new website, or for that matter, to see it ever again. But it took a long time and I want somebody to see it. The following art is personal and totally unofficial. Do not interpret anything about it as a statement about Penguicon looking like a flyer for a rave party, or as a statement about your favorite operating system.
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The first time I instant-messaged was around 1986, when I was about twelve or so. My grandfather frequently took me and my siblings to href="http://www.imp...
The first time I instant-messaged was around 1986, when I was about twelve or so. My grandfather frequently took me and my siblings to href="http://www.impression5.org/">Impression 5 Science Center in the eighties. It was great. One time I got a compliment from an employee there because I was the only one remaining in the film room all the way to the end of Dr. Seuss' environmentalist cartoon The Lorax, because everybody else had got up and left and she felt that was impolite. There...
Those of you who have visited my home might recognize these images of O'Neill space colonies, because I downloaded a few of them, printed each one on several sh...
Those of you who have visited my home might recognize these images of O'Neill space colonies, because I downloaded a few of them, printed each one on several sheets, cut and taped them together, and framed them.
Last week, Karl Schroeder posted the cover of his new book Lady of Mazes to his literature blog. I commented: "Wow... I want to hang it on my wall. I've often wondered, is it possible to obtain poster prints of SF covers instead of paying for the original painting at an SF conventio...
Disclaimer: This post is not intended as a statement either for or against the practice of Tarot reading.
While working on the vector art for the giant floor-co...
Disclaimer: This post is not intended as a statement either for or against the practice of Tarot reading.
While working on the vector art for the giant floor-covering hex mats of Settlers of Catan for Penguicon, I came across this old work of mine from years ago. In 2001, I wanted to play the game of Gnostica invented by Looney Labs, which involves a Tarot deck. The only people I knew with whom to play games, in my pre-SF-Convention days, were my siblings, but I knew I had to conceal the occult ...
Thanks to for this link to an Australian bake-off between installing Mac, Windows and Linux. It's interesting that their preferred version was Xandros, which I ...
Thanks to for this link to an Australian bake-off between installing Mac, Windows and Linux. It's interesting that their preferred version was Xandros, which I have been running on my already-existing Linux box for almost a year. I gave up on it because whenever I found cool software that I wanted to install, it was only available for two or three of the more common distros. Trying to install software, or even find it after it had been installed, made me want to throw the keyboard at the wall-- ...
I have a cell phone! (248) 787-7436. It's T-Mobile, so if you have T-Mobile and a certain feature in your options, you can call me for free. Please try my home ...
I have a cell phone! (248) 787-7436. It's T-Mobile, so if you have T-Mobile and a certain feature in your options, you can call me for free. Please try my home phone first between 6:00 and 9:00pm so that I can jealously guard my minutes, because it's 40 cents a minute after I deplete them. Also, I have AOL Instant Messenger on my phone!
I'm browsing through my options on Phonespell. Should I use the mnemonic "AI-USURP-GENE" or "A-GURUS-RID-6"? Both of them represent me quite ...
The Jargon Files has this to say about the programming language BASIC:
A programming language ... which for many years was the leading cause of brain damage in ...
The Jargon Files has this to say about the programming language BASIC:
A programming language ... which for many years was the leading cause of brain damage in proto-hackers. ... It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
I learned basic on the Commodore 64 when I was a kid. I am so screwed.
Comments
phecda on Feb. 3, 2005 6:39 PM
And after BASIC...
So now I tried installing another flavor of Linux, called Debian. After the joys of Fedora's "Anaconda" installation program in which I could use a mo...
So now I tried installing another flavor of Linux, called Debian. After the joys of Fedora's "Anaconda" installation program in which I could use a mouse, I'm disappointed by the apparent helplessness and dependency on the user which Debian seems to exhibit. The installation process never installed xstart or a graphical user interface. Yes, before you ask, I installed it two more times and it never offers the chance to do so. It leaves me with just a command line. What possible benefit...
I sent vector art of Tux the Penguin to Leland for him to cut a vinyl banner for Penguicon. His software couldn't interpret the format and this is what resulted...
I sent vector art of Tux the Penguin to Leland for him to cut a vinyl banner for Penguicon. His software couldn't interpret the format and this is what resulted. It's interesting from the perspective of unintentional abstract art. Perhaps a commentary on digital format compliance in our day and age? Or just ugly junk; you decide.
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In my recent post about e-book copy protection, asked me if I remembered how Karl Schroeder's Permanence ended. Since I couldn't remember, I tried looking up re...
In my recent post about e-book copy protection, asked me if I remembered how Karl Schroeder's Permanence ended. Since I couldn't remember, I tried looking up reviews of the book on Amazon.com. It was interesting that the reviewers criticized it mostly for the same reasons that I liked it: "too often resembles digressions that belong in an anthropology study, not a novel." "...the author packs in enough material for several volumes." I didn't care about his characters any more...
Image of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"(l to r) Sam Rockwell as Zaphod, Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, Marvin the Robot (voice by Alan Rickman),...
Image of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"(l to r) Sam Rockwell as Zaphod, Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, Marvin the Robot (voice by Alan Rickman), and Mos Def as Ford Prefect.
Comments
rikhei on Feb. 1, 2005 5:34 PM
*squee*
aiela on Feb. 1, 2005 5:44 PM
They better have a good reason for this one headed Zaphod thing.
phecda on Feb. 1, 2005 6:05 PM
Cheaper special effects? ;-)
matt-arnold on Feb. 1, 2005 8:27 PM
I'm betting this photo is on the set before post-production.
I've been a loyal customer of Fictionwise for years, and am a big promoter of the science fiction short stories they sell as e-books. The short stories have no ...
I've been a loyal customer of Fictionwise for years, and am a big promoter of the science fiction short stories they sell as e-books. The short stories have no copy protection, but the novels are sold in secure formats such as Secure Palm Reader. I've always been leery of digital rights management, but hearing Karl Schroeder at last year's (2004) ConFusion describe his novel Permanence was what first tempted me to venture slowly into them. I found it ironic that this was a book about digital rig...
I recently saw a cool page that ranked LJ users by how often they appeared in the friends lists of my those on my friends list. I can't find it any more.
Commen...
I recently saw a cool page that ranked LJ users by how often they appeared in the friends lists of my those on my friends list. I can't find it any more.
Comments
greyhat on Jan. 31, 2005 3:30 AM — friends of friends
try this page:
http://www.livejournal.com/friends/popwithfriends.bml
There's a link at the bottom so you can include your friends. Is this what you were looking for?
matt-arnold on Jan. 31, 2005 4:00 PM — Re: friends of friends
Yes it is, thanks. How does one surf to that in Livej...
Comments
cosette-valjean on Jan. 28, 2005 10:28 PM — Brilliant
*Laughing and laughing and laughing* and yet feeling sorry for you
stormgren on Jan. 29, 2005 1...
Comments
cosette-valjean on Jan. 28, 2005 10:28 PM — Brilliant
*Laughing and laughing and laughing* and yet feeling sorry for you
stormgren on Jan. 29, 2005 12:19 AM
Coffee and Cats warning on this one, folks.
Though tech support by proxy was interesting enough last night, the cleaning staff here wonder why I'm laughing my ass off.
raendrop on Jan. 29, 2005 12:30 AM
Absolutely brilliant! And I sympathize with your situation. Frustrating, no?
fuzzyjelly on Jan. 29, 2005 4:35 AM
Thanks for mak...
With a sense of satisfied triumph at 12:30 a.m. I finally get the new computer working, piece by piece. Thanks goes to the great C.R. and Blasted Bill for provi...
With a sense of satisfied triumph at 12:30 a.m. I finally get the new computer working, piece by piece. Thanks goes to the great C.R. and Blasted Bill for providing the components, and to , and for indispensible tech support. Linux Fedora Core 3 is installing on it as we speak.
Comments
stormgren on Jan. 28, 2005 5:48 AM
Master! Slave! Primary! Secondary!
*whipcrack*
matt-arnold on Jan. 28, 2005 2:39 PM — I spoke too soon.
It booted not from the drive, but from CD to install Linux. Just becaus...
At Cafe Penguicon on Friday night of ConFusion, I playtested Planet Catan. This is my variant of Settlers of Catan played on a Hoberman sphere. The player must ...
At Cafe Penguicon on Friday night of ConFusion, I playtested Planet Catan. This is my variant of Settlers of Catan played on a Hoberman sphere. The player must balance the strategies of mega-engineering the planet Catan to fit the colonists, or bio-engineering the colonists to fit the planet Catan. Through the game the colonies diverge into human subspecies until the planet is irreversibly transformed to be habitable by the winning global techno-ecology. This is a photo of me with one of the pla...
I loaned some of my GURPS: Transhuman Space roleplaying sourcebooks at ConFusion. Instead of hijacking her LJ comment to talk at length about this, I'll make a ...
I loaned some of my GURPS: Transhuman Space roleplaying sourcebooks at ConFusion. Instead of hijacking her LJ comment to talk at length about this, I'll make a new post here. David Pulver's GURPS: Transhuman Space series is one of my favorite works of science fiction ever, despite not being a novel. It's almost a compendium of a certain radial category of SF tropes; a subgenre that matches the tastes of that subset of fen who are just as happy reading non-fiction pop-science futurics (like Great...
My brother goes back to Pensacola Concentration Camp tomorrow. Because my responsibilities to two conventions happened to overwhelm me the past few weeks, I've ...
My brother goes back to Pensacola Concentration Camp tomorrow. Because my responsibilities to two conventions happened to overwhelm me the past few weeks, I've hardly seen him during his Christmas break. I just got an e-mail asking if I can still bring over Monty Python and the Holy Grail and watch it with him tonight as I had suggested two weeks ago. Can words describe the many different feelings that this e-mail rouses in me?
Love. Andy is one of My People. He is like me and his life is follow...
Comments
renniekins on Jan. 19, 2005 11:18 PM
Go christmas-tree shopping! That's what I did. Or just shopping in general, anything that uses your distance sigh...
Comments
renniekins on Jan. 19, 2005 11:18 PM
Go christmas-tree shopping! That's what I did. Or just shopping in general, anything that uses your distance sight...
(Of course, by the time you can read this again it will be completely irrelevent. Oh well.)
matt-arnold on Jan. 20, 2005 1:24 AM
Since my housemate has a large wide-screen TV, I played Metroid Prime and could see it fine from across the room.
One of the things that's different about contact lenses today from the last time I wore the...
TIME Magazine's January 2005 cover story is on The Twixters, a new life-phase that's emerging between teenager and adult. Modern educations have ceased to be wo...
TIME Magazine's January 2005 cover story is on The Twixters, a new life-phase that's emerging between teenager and adult. Modern educations have ceased to be worth much in the job market, so they can't afford a home, a marriage, or kids. They're renowned as Secret Masters Of Friendship, the "New Tribes."
I don't live with my parents, which would be wrong to them, but as long as I don't have kids or get married, I have no one to be irresponsible to. Why does the transition to so-called ...
"What did you do while LiveJournal was down?"
I spent the night at Blasted Bill's place and manufactured new feet for the Tux costume. I rubbed my fin...
"What did you do while LiveJournal was down?"
I spent the night at Blasted Bill's place and manufactured new feet for the Tux costume. I rubbed my fingers raw while sculpting a foot in modeling clay. I must remember to use wood tools or mineral oil when working on so large a scale. Then we put it in a box and poured 18 pounds of plaster on it. After this cured, the clay was removed. For each foot, we put on thin petroleum jelly, then a thin coat of caulk is applied to serve both as imp...
I flirted too hard. I am feeling bad for being insensitive and oblivious. I need to get it through my thick head that when I hear "polyamory" this not...
I flirted too hard. I am feeling bad for being insensitive and oblivious. I need to get it through my thick head that when I hear "polyamory" this not Clintonspeak for "lots of unimportant relationships that one can take it or leave it." In poly there is a desire for commitment, and deep emotional importance.
I guess I can't feel so bad though... reading back over the logs and thinking back on the face-to-face, I communicated my refusal to commit, and that I don't believe in ...
If you intend to get satellite radio in the next 12 months, contact me. You can get $50 bucks from the place I work for by being in a two hour focus group on Mo...
If you intend to get satellite radio in the next 12 months, contact me. You can get $50 bucks from the place I work for by being in a two hour focus group on Monday.
Comments
brendand on Jan. 14, 2005 4:29 AM
What time is the focus group? I have a meeting on Monday at 11am, so I don't think I'd be there (depending on where it is) before 2 or 3. But I am thinking about it. I think it'd make a nice Christmas present to myself. :)
matt-arnold on Jan. 14, 2005 2:37 PM
It's in Oakland County. One o...
The Penguicon mailer announces our fifth Guest of Honor, Joan D. Vinge, and has been edited from last year to inform more people to bring their computers. I had...
The Penguicon mailer announces our fifth Guest of Honor, Joan D. Vinge, and has been edited from last year to inform more people to bring their computers. I had to drive down to the west side of Ann Arbor yesterday to pick it up, and back to Oak Park, in the fog. Fortunately Blasted Bill was working in my area and stopped by to pick them up at my house so I didn't have to drive up to Great Lakes Crossing where he lives. I found out on this trip that my new eBay car charger for my handheld does n...
It's funny, last year I felt wistful about losing my former career in desktop publishing. But the last couple of weeks the DP projects I've been doing have left...
It's funny, last year I felt wistful about losing my former career in desktop publishing. But the last couple of weeks the DP projects I've been doing have left me with no time to even think about anything else. Keep Options and Nested Boxes. Shortcut key combos to adjust Kerning and Leading without using the Character Pallette. Figuring out the best linescreen with the print shop on the phone. So on and so forth. I enjoyed it but I'm ready to take a little break-- especially after my friend the...
According to these tests, my Systematizing Quotient is 22 and my Empathy Quotient is 12. This site says that most women tend to average an SQ of 24 and most men...
According to these tests, my Systematizing Quotient is 22 and my Empathy Quotient is 12. This site says that most women tend to average an SQ of 24 and most men tend to average an SQ of 30, and that most women tend to average an EQ of 47 and most men tend to average an EQ of 42. And someone with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome has EQ of about 20, which is eight points better than mine. I've been feeling downright autistic lately in my dealings with some people (except without the ...
Let me tell you one of the most fascinating stories I ever heard. I read about it in The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. It's a true story from history about...
Let me tell you one of the most fascinating stories I ever heard. I read about it in The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong. It's a true story from history about a seventeenth-century would-be messiah named Sabbatai Zevi. The story is worth reading for repeated surprises in the ending that give an insight into how it's possible that people would think Jesus of Nazareth, or for that matter Monty Python's "Brian that is called Brian," to be a messiah.
Some Kabbalistic mystical texts compu...
From George P. Dvorsky's Blog, Sentient Developments, comes the following sarcastic prayer.
Dear God,
_
as we marvel at Thy creation,
this tiny planet Earth on ...
From George P. Dvorsky's Blog, Sentient Developments, comes the following sarcastic prayer.
Dear God,
_
as we marvel at Thy creation,
this tiny planet Earth on which we dwell,
we stand in awe and reverence in the Universe's unfolding.
As we continue to stand by You and worship Thee,
and as You in turn answer our prayers and watch over us, Your blessed children,
we remain in blissful ignorance as to Thine divine plan.
But far be it for us to question the motives of God,
for You have blessed us wi...
A friend is giving me Fedora Core 3 Linux on CD, a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 chip with a processor fan, a GeForce4 AGP graphics card, many disk drives, another thing ca...
A friend is giving me Fedora Core 3 Linux on CD, a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 chip with a processor fan, a GeForce4 AGP graphics card, many disk drives, another thing called a RAID controller that harnesses several drives together and increases access speed, and a device which will let me share my other computer's monitor, mouse and keyboard.
I already have several ancient computer cases, ethernet cards, case fans and CD/floppy drives that might be eligible for this build.
To make this a complete compute...
I picked up this meme from and . Take the timeline and fill in the story of your past and your plans for the future.
30 years ago - 1974. I woke up in my mother...
I picked up this meme from and . Take the timeline and fill in the story of your past and your plans for the future.
30 years ago - 1974. I woke up in my mother's womb. This came as a surprise because the last thing I remembered, at the time, was going to sleep in 2008 at the age of 34.
25 years ago - 1980. By this time enough of my motor functions had developed that in order to pass as a child I had to begin to seriously fake it. My crankiness, however, was genuine due to having lost my whole l...
Reason #1. The ability to get good things done.
The internet is a world I spend a lot of time in. I'll say to a friend "this page of our organization needs...
Reason #1. The ability to get good things done.
The internet is a world I spend a lot of time in. I'll say to a friend "this page of our organization needs to say this instead of that" and they'll direct me to somebody who is a gatekeeper when I'd rather just have the power to Do It. I found out recently from Blasted Bill and that unless the cable company objects, a private consumer could actually host a web site in one's own home on a perfectly normal computer. My cousin revealed to m...
I became heavily involved in several things this year, including running conventions, administrating web communities for secular alternatives to church, and lea...
I became heavily involved in several things this year, including running conventions, administrating web communities for secular alternatives to church, and learning Lojban. I got reliable employment and a stable residence arrangement. My ex-wife changed beyond recognition and I got much more involved with her than I expected to.
In the upcoming year, I'd like to ...
A. ... finish becoming a hacker according to the four steps of How To Become A Hacker by Eric S. Raymond:
--1. ... start learning ...
It was recently pointed out to me that according to the transcript of United Universists' live chat with science journalist John Horgan, I'm the one who gave hi...
It was recently pointed out to me that according to the transcript of United Universists' live chat with science journalist John Horgan, I'm the one who gave him the word "Horganism" to use in his New York Times Op-Ed article about us. It was read by millions. The novel The Religion War, by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, which I journaled about recently, involved someone called the Prime Influencer. This character unknowingly tips world opinion by giving a catchy phrase to a few influ...
My company is closed this whole week to give us all a holiday break. I'm mostly spending it working on the ConFusion program book.
I need to get a clearer conce...
My company is closed this whole week to give us all a holiday break. I'm mostly spending it working on the ConFusion program book.
I need to get a clearer concept of how much time it takes to do things. The problem with overcommitment is not that I spend too much of my time on volunteer work. The problem is that the work is done better when it's properly time-budgeted for instead of rushed at great expense and at the last minute. I feel terrible that Blasted Bill has to be the one to create the ...
meme gakked from :
used Complete Enya Collection on Chri$tma$. Dodged! 1 damage.
Chri$tma$ attacked with Insane Traffic! Hit! 5 damage.
used Settlers of Catan 5...
meme gakked from :
used Complete Enya Collection on Chri$tma$. Dodged! 1 damage.
Chri$tma$ attacked with Insane Traffic! Hit! 5 damage.
used Settlers of Catan 5-6 Player Expansion on Chri$tma$. Hit! 20 damage.
Chri$tma$ attacked with Cantata! Dodged! 0 damage!
used wireless router on Chri$tma$. Parried! 10 damage.
Chri$tma$ attacked with Sermon! Hit! 10 damage.
Ate food: health restored to full!
used laptop WiFi card on Christmas. Hit! 35 damage.
You have defeated Chri$tma$.
Gained 50 experience...
Thank you goes out to Penguicon's Roly Poly Tablehammer Shuffleball Pope, Clark Rodeffer, for bringing to my attention this link of a clip from the '70s-'80s ch...
Thank you goes out to Penguicon's Roly Poly Tablehammer Shuffleball Pope, Clark Rodeffer, for bringing to my attention this link of a clip from the '70s-'80s children's show Rainbow. It brings to mind Warren Ellis' great comic book Transmetropolitan in which the "Sex Puppets" childrens show is broadcast to the decadent citizens of the future. According to the Rainbow Arch webpage:
This clip was actually broadcast and watched by millions. Almost too ridiculous to believe. These are take...
ko ba gleki ca'o le citsi means "Imperative-you future-tense be happy/merry/glad/gleeful during the season/cyclic interval," in Lojban. :) This holida...
ko ba gleki ca'o le citsi means "Imperative-you future-tense be happy/merry/glad/gleeful during the season/cyclic interval," in Lojban. :) This holiday season, I am dabbling in Yule, Solstice, Luminas, HumanLight, and a little $antaTreeGiftmas. I'm even smiling magnanimously at expressions of TotalitarianCultOfPersonalitymas such as live mangers and "Jesus Is the Reason For The Season." (I have very little objection to empty symbolism. It keeps the moral majority complacent a...
I need a dehumidifier for my car. This morning I kept having to pull over and scrape the frost off the inside (yes I said the inside) of all my windows so that ...
I need a dehumidifier for my car. This morning I kept having to pull over and scrape the frost off the inside (yes I said the inside) of all my windows so that I could see. It was like something out of The Day After Tomorrow.
P.S. Tonight at 8:00 p.m. is the Christmas celebration of the Macomb/Oakland Fan Organization. We are not meeting at Denny's this week! We will be at Outback Steakhouse on Schoenner at the corner of Hall Rd./M-59 in Shelby Township, across the street from Lakeside Mall of S...
Via : http://home.earthlink.net/~cklarock3/chick.htm
I love it when Jack Chick tracts are modified into a parody. It's just as hilarious as the other one I Live...
Via : http://home.earthlink.net/~cklarock3/chick.htm
I love it when Jack Chick tracts are modified into a parody. It's just as hilarious as the other one I LiveJournaled about before. I seriously want to print these up and hide them in my parents' stash of Chick tracts.
Comments
cosette-valjean on Dec. 17, 2004 8:29 AM — Funny
Do it! Do it! See if they even notice and had them out... Hee-hee.
phecda on Dec. 17, 2004 4:20 PM — More Chick Parodies
Here's my favorite -- Space Moose in "Antle...
Here's a useful LJ meme, gakked from : Identify one goal that you've had, and that you've not been able to reach in the past. State why you don't think you've r...
Here's a useful LJ meme, gakked from : Identify one goal that you've had, and that you've not been able to reach in the past. State why you don't think you've reached it.
Despite a lifetime of sculpting (in plasticine, a medium so fragile that I have almost nothing to show for it) I have not yet made a clay-animated short film. When I was a child and a teenager I had the talent and the time, but animation in any form was outside my price range by several orders of magnitude. I still have the tal...
I watched the first hour of Ursula K. LeGuin's Legend of Earthsea on the SciFi channel last night and was disappointed but not surprised that it was a rehashing...
I watched the first hour of Ursula K. LeGuin's Legend of Earthsea on the SciFi channel last night and was disappointed but not surprised that it was a rehashing of tired cliches. I'm sure there is innovation somewhere in this genre that doesn't just plagiarize the ancient Myth of the Hero and use Good Vs. Evil to avoid having to motivate the antagonist. Can someone point it out to me? We aren't kids sitting around the campfire listening to a static oral tradition, folks! How did that old adage g...
Science journalist John Horgan, who was a guest for a live chat event with the Universists a few months ago, has now written an op-ed column about us in the New...
Science journalist John Horgan, who was a guest for a live chat event with the Universists a few months ago, has now written an op-ed column about us in the New York Times. (Some of you might remember Universism from my blog entry The O'Doul's of Religion.) Mr. Horgan panned us, but brings up some important points for improvement. Most importantly he got us exposure through one of the world's biggest media outlets. Our registrations at meetup.com have increased by the hundreds in a single day!
C...
This week I downloaded and read The Religion War, a science fiction novella and the sequel to God's Debris, by Scott Adams, better known for creating the comic ...
This week I downloaded and read The Religion War, a science fiction novella and the sequel to God's Debris, by Scott Adams, better known for creating the comic strip Dilbert. I enjoyed it. Be prepared that it's not a comedy, although it does bring up questions similar to those raised by another famous humorist with the last name of Adams who employed science fiction for the same end in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Religion War is about the Avatar, a Sherlock Holmes figure who is a h...
Well, the conversation with a radio preacher has drawn to a peaceful close. Although my friends list is unlikely to want to read it, I'm including his final let...
Well, the conversation with a radio preacher has drawn to a peaceful close. Although my friends list is unlikely to want to read it, I'm including his final letter in an lj-cut below because this Live Journal is my own record of memories. Mr. Thomas has some charitable things to say in parting about his opponent. Then he concludes by relating miracles, never suspecting that Mormons and JWs and Muslims and new age healers and readers of horoscopes and paranoid schizophrenics experience identical ...
This is Mr. Thomas' fourth reply.
Matt,
You've blatantly mischaracterized what the Bible teaches. It teaches not to ignore truth, but to embrace it. You know, &...
This is Mr. Thomas' fourth reply.
Matt,
You've blatantly mischaracterized what the Bible teaches. It teaches not to ignore truth, but to embrace it. You know, "The truth shall set you free". But, sadly, you see truth and call it lies. Somehow your intellect trumps God's sovereignty and Satan's deceptions. You and your fellow TH-ers have it figured out...just haven't been able to implement it all yet, is that it?
Although you keep ascribing ownership of the Bible and Christianity to me ...
This exchange has brought to mind the saying of Thomas Paine, "Reasoning with one who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the...
This exchange has brought to mind the saying of Thomas Paine, "Reasoning with one who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead." If through technology we could someday revive the dead to health, what might this suggest about Paine's assertion? I'm not sure where this metaphorical connection is going to lead. But here is the continuation, and probably the finale, of the correspondence with a radio preacher.
This is Mr. Thomas' third reply.
Matt,
Please ...
I forgot to include a link to Scott Thomas' article in the Illinois Leader.
This is Mr. Thomas' second e-mail reply.
This is kind of fun, Matt, so I'll engage i...
I forgot to include a link to Scott Thomas' article in the Illinois Leader.
This is Mr. Thomas' second e-mail reply.
This is kind of fun, Matt, so I'll engage in this round. I also thank you for your reply. The insight into transhumanist logic is fascinating. I'm very sorry to hear that you've abandoned your faith...but, you're not dead yet, so there's always hope.
From a Christian worldview, there is no need to introduce the example of a corpse into the discussion. A person's spirit is, after a...
Dear Illinois Leader,
I am a Transhumanist. Scott Thomas was incorrect to write in his column of Wednesday, December 1 that Transhumanists hold humans to be of ...
Dear Illinois Leader,
I am a Transhumanist. Scott Thomas was incorrect to write in his column of Wednesday, December 1 that Transhumanists hold humans to be of equal worth with microprocessors or sheep. They are not as sentient as humans. Embryos, however, are single-celled organisms that have not even become fetuses yet, much less people. The tissues used for stem-cell research have the potential to grow human minds if they are allowed to do so. But if not, they remain empty tissues. An early f...
It's heartening to encounter a kindred spirit. If I collected my essays and published them as a book, it would take the same essential positions as this bestsel...
It's heartening to encounter a kindred spirit. If I collected my essays and published them as a book, it would take the same essential positions as this bestselling book that Sam Harris has now published, titled The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. You need to read this interview. I'm far from the only person who has come to these realizations, and it's clearly spreading. Click this link to join us tonight at 8pm Eastern for a live chat interview with Sam Harris of which...
I'll try almost anything once. So far my adventures have included goth nightclubs, a sword fighting class, a seedy karaoke bar and a clogging class. Needless to...
I'll try almost anything once. So far my adventures have included goth nightclubs, a sword fighting class, a seedy karaoke bar and a clogging class. Needless to say, it's been as a fascinated observer rather than a participant. It's kind of like the new Star Wars trilogy: It's worth renting on DVD to see the pretty special effects the first time, but the second time you watch it, it's a stale rerun. If anyone had told me years ago (during the period where these experiences would have been consid...
I enjoy learning about subjects that show me how arbitrary everything is that's been handed down to us by prophets and priests and kings and Microsoft and so fo...
I enjoy learning about subjects that show me how arbitrary everything is that's been handed down to us by prophets and priests and kings and Microsoft and so forth. There is a sort of future shock that one can experience in this, to realize that most of the current underpinnings of culture are groundless and may as well be something else. Something better. One such subject is timekeeping. Before the Roman emperors started re-naming months after themselves, Rome had a consistent system for naming...
When I get all steamed-up, resistance is futile. You will hear me shout. You will be tipped over and poured into Borg. By Bill Putt's request, for the amusement...
When I get all steamed-up, resistance is futile. You will hear me shout. You will be tipped over and poured into Borg. By Bill Putt's request, for the amusement of him, , , and , here is "I'm A Little Teapot" translated into Lojban and back into English.
mi'e cmalu tcatipax (MEEheh SHMAloo CHAteepach*)
noi tordu je plana (noi TORdu zheh PLAHnah)
ti po'emi veljai (tee POhemee VELzh-eye)
ti po'emi tubnu (tee POhemee TOOBnoo)
fau jaurgapci tirna lo siclu (fow zhowrGAHPshee TEERnah loe SEE...
Here is a link to a wonderful letter written by artificial intelligence researcher Eliezer Yudkowski, describing his reaction to the death of his brother. It mo...
Here is a link to a wonderful letter written by artificial intelligence researcher Eliezer Yudkowski, describing his reaction to the death of his brother. It moved me to tears. I felt very similar to what he expressed, after the death of my beloved grandmother last year. Mr. Yudkowski is one of the six or seven people worldwide who I wish I could meet and personally befriend. I admire this small set of folks for consistently inspiring me to live a better life with amazing philosophy. This letter...
I am an individual with unique needs.
The unique way I live means benefits are not as important to me as take-home pay. It seems unlikely that a human resource ...
I am an individual with unique needs.
The unique way I live means benefits are not as important to me as take-home pay. It seems unlikely that a human resource department is capable of imagining of a 30-year old man who does not have any dependents and therefore does not care about your wonderful PPO. I do not care what doctor I go to and I will probably never see her or him again. I am a man who does not have a family with whom he wants to spend your exorbitantly long Christmas break and be a g...
The company I've been temping for agreed to hire me this week. I've been celebrating ever since I found out. It officially starts on the first of December.
I ju...
The company I've been temping for agreed to hire me this week. I've been celebrating ever since I found out. It officially starts on the first of December.
I just did the calculations this morning and realized I'm not getting a raise. They are "offering" me a pay cut of about a dollar an hour. Second, on salary I can't earn more with overtime. Third, I just now started to get benefits through my temp agency anyway so it's not like that's an improvement. So I wonder why I'm doing this f...
A meme gakked from almost everybody:
"This is the problem with LJ. We all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify...
A meme gakked from almost everybody:
"This is the problem with LJ. We all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.
Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you."
Comments
samurai-jkm on Nov. 17, 2004 1:46 PM — question about my friend...
Here's one...
Do you like to watch porn?...
Lately I've been taking my discontent with America's religious climate and hitching it to the wagon of the recent election in the hopes of waking up politically...
Lately I've been taking my discontent with America's religious climate and hitching it to the wagon of the recent election in the hopes of waking up politically-motivated people to become motivated about religion, so that they can work on the disease and not the symptoms. Now, however, there is a backlash, because there are two kinds of Christians.
First there are the majority of Christians, among whom are many of my good and worthy friends, who pray a lot, and claim to follow some vague idea of...
I grew up listening to the Focus on the Family radio program, and continued listening several years into adulthood. Both there, and in the church I attended in ...
I grew up listening to the Focus on the Family radio program, and continued listening several years into adulthood. Both there, and in the church I attended in Warren, Michigan, and at Pensacola Christian College, I was exposed to Christian Supremacism. Phrases like "taking back America for God" or "putting King Jesus back on the throne" were commonplace. This is an interpretation of religious freedom identical to that of Islamic Supremacists. The shared idea of these movemen...
From the website:
"The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to New Hampshire, where they may work within ...
From the website:
"The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to New Hampshire, where they may work within the political system to reduce the size and scope of government. The success of the Free State Project would likely entail reductions in burdensome taxation and regulation, reforms in state and local law, an end to federal mandates, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the na...
My non-humanist friends are reacting to the outcome of this election with the same stress, fear, disgust and alienation that I experience all year round. The sa...
My non-humanist friends are reacting to the outcome of this election with the same stress, fear, disgust and alienation that I experience all year round. The sad thing is, when I have someone else to feel this way with, I'm actually less lonely than I do when they are calm and conciliatory toward our enemies.
It takes the carnival sideshow of politics to bring it out in them. I wonder how long it will last. Why do people get so much more worked up about the publicized struggles of power brokers ...
I just got done voting. I enthusiastically voted for Kerry/Edwards-- in order to punish Bush. I would vote for a ham sandwich if the ticket does not include (or...
I just got done voting. I enthusiastically voted for Kerry/Edwards-- in order to punish Bush. I would vote for a ham sandwich if the ticket does not include (or be supported by) the type of authority-worshipping religious zealots that I had to listen to while waiting in line to vote this morning. Because they are quivering with fear crying "oh save me strong authoritarian figures!" they thought staying with the problems of the administration that they know is an intrinsically good thin...
Karla McClaren was formerly a New Age author for more than thirty years, during which time she authored several books and appeared at the Omega Institute, Narop...
Karla McClaren was formerly a New Age author for more than thirty years, during which time she authored several books and appeared at the Omega Institute, Naropa University, and the Whole Life Expo. She is currently dismantling her successful career as a metaphysical guru, and writes in the May 2004 issue of Skeptical Inquirer of her transition to skepticism, about her surprise on discovering that James Randi and other skeptics are actually motivated by concern rather than spite, and of how skep...
TAYLOR: Death is result of debate about God
October 28, 2004
BY JOEL THURTELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Taylor police dispatcher took the call at precisely 12:4...
TAYLOR: Death is result of debate about God
October 28, 2004
BY JOEL THURTELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Taylor police dispatcher took the call at precisely 12:44 p.m. on Oct. 18. A 49-year-old man said he'd just blasted a man with a revolver and a shotgun because the man said he didn't believe in God. The dispatcher said the alleged shooter told him he'd just shot "the devil himself" and was still armed and standing over the body of the 62-year-old victim "in case he moved."
...
A meme lifted from . If you read this, please post a
poem in your livejournal.
It Wears You
by Ann K. Schwader
from the free e-book of Strange Horizons August 2...
A meme lifted from . If you read this, please post a
poem in your livejournal.
It Wears You
by Ann K. Schwader
from the free e-book of Strange Horizons August 2002
(to a wireless wearable computerite)
Born swimmer in the data stream, you wear
as effortlessly as a trout its gills
this latest means of never needing air.
No doubt the cyborg lifestyle has its thrills:
your spectacles with that eyecorner screen
keep you so well informed it's near obscene
to plebians without. I must confess,
however, ...
I forgot to mention something in my journal post moments ago. I was distraught that I was scheduled to be on a panel during ConClave's coffee ritual. I wanted t...
I forgot to mention something in my journal post moments ago. I was distraught that I was scheduled to be on a panel during ConClave's coffee ritual. I wanted to find out if they truly know how to worship coffee. I may not know anything about religious parody but I know how to prepare coffee ceremoniously. I would no sooner stand for the heresy of pre-stale tinned grounds of mostly robusta than Lady Sarah would stand for the heresy of carab in the chocolate ritual. I have decided to do a coffee ...
ConClave was fun. Although I agree with everyone else that it was not as fun this year as the other conventions, having any convention at all is not chopped liv...
ConClave was fun. Although I agree with everyone else that it was not as fun this year as the other conventions, having any convention at all is not chopped liver! I got to do all the checklist of things that I went to Conclave to do.
- I sat in the hot tub with and Frank: check.
- I played Navia Dratp with and : check.
- I eventually got some cuddles from three girls: check. I am clearly improving at it. I am trying to get over the learning curve of social touch because I like it a lot and want...
I recently started watching Babylon 5 for the first time, since my housemate has it on DVD. I appreciated how the producers occasionally made a few concessions ...
I recently started watching Babylon 5 for the first time, since my housemate has it on DVD. I appreciated how the producers occasionally made a few concessions to the scientific realities of zero-gravity vacuum, when they felt it didn't detract too much from the corny space-opera melodrama they were aiming for. How nice of them.
The fact that they considered their relatively lax standard to be so rigorous, reminded me how much I loved the PC computer game Independence War, a capital ship combat ...
This meme spread to me from . I don't spread these unless I like them, and this one is actually heplful. I like to adjust the spelling/phrasing of each item on ...
This meme spread to me from . I don't spread these unless I like them, and this one is actually heplful. I like to adjust the spelling/phrasing of each item on my list of interests until it matches the most common spelling/phrasing for the exact same interest. Matching with people, after all, is what the interests list is all about. Any suggestions?
How common are matt_arnold's interests
Universal
books (188145)
reading (354148)
writing (352319)
Popular
coffee (91770)
philosophy (70218)
Common
a...
reports in her latest livejournal entry that after Penguicon 1.0 she slowed down, became more passive, and stopped creating lots of new projects and pursuing th...
reports in her latest livejournal entry that after Penguicon 1.0 she slowed down, became more passive, and stopped creating lots of new projects and pursuing them to the end with her typical relentless determination; she is now taking charge again. I almost posted a comment, but it turned into a ramble about me, and I don't want to highjack her LJ. Penguicon 1.0 was the fulcrum for me too, in exactly the same matter, except in the opposite direction. For about thirty years I was full of big plan...
Possessive pronouns such as "my" change meanings depending on whether you say "my owner," "my wife," "my dog," or "...
Possessive pronouns such as "my" change meanings depending on whether you say "my owner," "my wife," "my dog," or "my boot." The meaning could range from possession (the boot that is the property of the speaker) to mere association (the spouse that is the one associated with the speaker). The speaker's usage also changes depending on culture, such as in the subjugation of women. Have you thought about this? There is also a difference between &quo...
A meme lifted from
Ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want, and I will answer truthfully and fully. Then I want you to go to your journal,...
A meme lifted from
Ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want, and I will answer truthfully and fully. Then I want you to go to your journal, and copy and paste this, allowing your friends (including me) to ask you anything.
Comments
wormquartet on Oct. 8, 2004 12:40 PM — 3 questions
1. How's it going?
2. Do you like margarine?
3. What the hell?!?
-=ShoEboX=-
matt-arnold on Oct. 8, 2004 2:19 PM — Re: 3 questions
1. Uncertainty is up, expenses are down, issues remain stable. ...
More and more often I find myself referencing Eric S. Raymond's essay Dancing With The Gods. It's very close to Karen Armstrong's book The Battle For God on my ...
More and more often I find myself referencing Eric S. Raymond's essay Dancing With The Gods. It's very close to Karen Armstrong's book The Battle For God on my required reading list for the power of the explanatory models of religious experience and institutional development that these writings provide. The essay makes me wonder if god archetypes have ever manifested themselves in me, and if so, which ones. Perhaps if I brought it up somebody would say "oh yeah, we see you acting like so-an...
In my wanderings around the web I've noticed that certain kinds of conflict happen to very certain kinds of projects. Take for instance Orion's Arm, a collabora...
In my wanderings around the web I've noticed that certain kinds of conflict happen to very certain kinds of projects. Take for instance Orion's Arm, a collaborative worldbuilding project creating a science-fiction universe which is supposed to be "hard SF," meaning they can't just make up fake science, they are constrained to not contradict what science currently knows in 2004. On their e-mail list there are frequent flame wars that usually involve personality politics rather than disa...
I'm throwing two parties at my house this weekend. SEMI-abstract gamers is having an all-day prototype playtest on Saturday, and the first M.O.F.O. party is on ...
I'm throwing two parties at my house this weekend. SEMI-abstract gamers is having an all-day prototype playtest on Saturday, and the first M.O.F.O. party is on Sunday. Does anybody local have some folding chairs and tables you could let me borrow?
Comments
twoofdtm on Sep. 23, 2004 10:45 AM
Party? Party? Are you crazy man!! That would mean people would be socializing and such!!! AHHHHH!! WEIRDO!!!
phecda on Sep. 23, 2004 11:13 AM
Give me a hand clearing the basement tonight, and there's my dra...
It was a good weekend. There were panels on incorporating, getting 501c3 non-profit status and hotel contracts. Scary stuff. I don't think Iconoclasm will need ...
It was a good weekend. There were panels on incorporating, getting 501c3 non-profit status and hotel contracts. Scary stuff. I don't think Iconoclasm will need a lot of the legalese yet. There was also fun stuff like incorporating tolerance of diversity, or how to decide what panel discussions to have.
However, most of this was for conventions of anywhere from 300 to 2,000 people. What I can't wait for is to find out how Midwest Construction itself was put together, because it's a convention of ...
- Ask Cory about tech GoH suggestions
- Surplus restaurant cashier screen systems, for the touch-screen kiosks: can we make them run Linux?
- Panel about "...
- Ask Cory about tech GoH suggestions
- Surplus restaurant cashier screen systems, for the touch-screen kiosks: can we make them run Linux?
- Panel about "This Land" parody copyright dispute
- Panel about the promising interstellar signal received recently by SETI@home
- Joey Devilla
- Ask dealers for their spare stuff, as prizes to give workers
- When we post flyers on campuses, indicate that reg $ is comped for volunteers
- Assistant to the Conchair, job is Conchair caretaker at con
...
Bill Putt and I traveled safely to Columbus OH for Midwest Construction 3, a convention for people who run all-volunteer not-for-profit science fiction conventi...
Bill Putt and I traveled safely to Columbus OH for Midwest Construction 3, a convention for people who run all-volunteer not-for-profit science fiction conventions in the midwest. (We stopped at the Novi Sheraton before we set off, and finally signed Penguicon's hotel contract! Awesome!) We had not been here two hours and commented we'd already got our money's worth without even attending a panel yet. I'm taking lots of notes and I'll make good on my promise to present a report Monday night.
Com...
This article brought to mind the old saying, "Just wait until you have children of your own, then you'll see I'm right!" I recently read of another st...
This article brought to mind the old saying, "Just wait until you have children of your own, then you'll see I'm right!" I recently read of another study that found becoming an authority figure rewires structures in the brain, but I can't find that article at this time.
Indiana University study: having children significantly lowers parents’ IQs
"A five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scie...
United Universists has scheduled me to be a guest on The Infidel Guy, an internet call-in show popular with freethinkers, to talk about Universism. Watch this s...
United Universists has scheduled me to be a guest on The Infidel Guy, an internet call-in show popular with freethinkers, to talk about Universism. Watch this space to find out the day and time..
Comments
cosette-valjean on Sep. 15, 2004 1:39 PM
You would be quite the ideal spokesman for the Universist since you will not get upset and don't think that they are silly. Can you listen to this show on the internet?
matt-arnold on Sep. 15, 2004 2:04 PM
Yes, you can! Here is the How To Listen FAQ.
I am happy.
Comments
wulfthestampede on Sep. 14, 2004 5:18 PM
thats the best news ive heard all day! (:~
sothisislife on Sep. 14, 2004 5:18 PM
Enjoy it while ...
I am happy.
Comments
wulfthestampede on Sep. 14, 2004 5:18 PM
thats the best news ive heard all day! (:~
sothisislife on Sep. 14, 2004 5:18 PM
Enjoy it while it lasts.
I'm such a cynic. ;)
Any particular reason?
matt-arnold on Sep. 15, 2004 7:14 AM
I take the same attitude. And the answer is yes.
treebones on Sep. 14, 2004 9:41 PM
Yay! (:
twoofdtm on Sep. 14, 2004 9:55 PM
YAY!! Tell us all!!
cosette-valjean on Sep. 15, 2004 5:13 AM — Happy
Wonderful. :-) What might be causing this feeling?...
In this online excerpt from Rational Mysticism, Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality, journalist John Horgan interviews the authors of Th...
In this online excerpt from Rational Mysticism, Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality, journalist John Horgan interviews the authors of The Guru Papers about the dangers of cults, gurus, and spiritual authority. "In 1999, just after I started researching a book on mysticism, I asked for advice from J.P., a man who works for a holistic-learning institute in New York City. J.P. cautiously recommended a book that critiqued the enlightenment industry and had caused a stir ...
So I just found out that yesterday was the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. May all religions fade away. It's too bad that we usually only hear American...
So I just found out that yesterday was the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. May all religions fade away. It's too bad that we usually only hear Americans talking about how the highjackers' motive was hate and greed. That's nonsense. Their crime was a faith crime. Religion launched faith-based missiles against the symbols of the secular world. The churches in this country don't want to think about what they have in common with Al Qaeda supporters-- the sin of faith. Granted, there's a tre...
As an artist my only interest has been to tell stories and bring characters to life, which is why I revere comics, puppets, costumes and animation as art but di...
As an artist my only interest has been to tell stories and bring characters to life, which is why I revere comics, puppets, costumes and animation as art but disdain museums as decoration. Why frame a cel of animation or a page from a comic book and hang it on a wall? I would feel like I was using something wonderful for something pointless. I have no interest in images in frames on walls, lacking narrative context; but if you do, there are lots of them already created specifically for that, whi...
Ever since I realized how close Andy's departure to PCC loomed, I've been waking white-knuckled and shaking from dreams which always ended either in tears or ex...
Ever since I realized how close Andy's departure to PCC loomed, I've been waking white-knuckled and shaking from dreams which always ended either in tears or explosive rage. Andy and I and my friend (a fellow PCC refugee) are climbing a maze of traps. A platform collapses and Andy falls into a bottomless pit. If you have any loved ones at all, you can probably imagine that my reaction was not a calm one. The dreams are always different, but easy to understand. I'm going to keep a close eye on PC...
Cory Doctorow has replied to my e-mail inviting him to Penguicon 3.0. Not only is he willing to be our honored guest, he's so enthusiastic he's already suggeste...
Cory Doctorow has replied to my e-mail inviting him to Penguicon 3.0. Not only is he willing to be our honored guest, he's so enthusiastic he's already suggested a half-dozen schedule events! I can't describe how geeked I am about this without lapsing into Lojban. Cory Doctorow is European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is author of two of my personal all-time favorite novels, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe. He is the winner of the 20...
8/31/04, Edited to add: Oh yes, in my haste to describe the abuses I forgot to mention it's not accredited either. Putting up with four years of PCC accomplishe...
8/31/04, Edited to add: Oh yes, in my haste to describe the abuses I forgot to mention it's not accredited either. Putting up with four years of PCC accomplishes a diploma that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
This week my brother is leaving to attend his first semester at my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College. Those of you who know me are aware of my views on that.
PCC bans the internet, forbids visits to off-campus libraries, and restricts speech to compliance with their narrow inte...
This address by Christian cognitive scientist Edmund Furse is a totally straight-faced explanation of how robots, in his opinion, will be able to do things like...
This address by Christian cognitive scientist Edmund Furse is a totally straight-faced explanation of how robots, in his opinion, will be able to do things like sin, or communicate with God. An excerpt:
..."give us this day our daily bread" might have to be replaced by "give us our regular electric feed".
...It seems to me that Christ died for all persons, male, female, human and robot. A second argument might be that a robot is unlikely to be an icon of Christ at the altar, ...
Among my many interests, one that occasionally lies dormant is a lojban, the "logical language." I just got SuperMemo for the Palm OS so that my PDA c...
Among my many interests, one that occasionally lies dormant is a lojban, the "logical language." I just got SuperMemo for the Palm OS so that my PDA can quiz me in lojban vocabulary flashcards at timed intervals throughout each day, so my interest in it is on an upswing right now.
Of course, it's totally permissible to speak as illogically as one wishes to in lojban, and not all the decisions made in crafting lojban are the most logical. It's merely a language with a grammar based on p...
Today Underworld Comics and Games called me because Bandai sent them a demo kit of Navia Dratp. I was the one they had listed with contact info as that guy who ...
Today Underworld Comics and Games called me because Bandai sent them a demo kit of Navia Dratp. I was the one they had listed with contact info as that guy who had been nagging them about it for a year before it's release and promising to buy it. Well, they decided not to carry it and to give me the demo kit for free. A couple of months ago,Gamers Conclave in Louisiana contacted me to talk about their demo kit, and from the photos they sent I see that it has two complete starter sets, SRP $60.00...
I rented the anime anthology Memories by the creator of Akira, Otomo Katsuhiro. The entire film is top-notch, with breathtaking visuals and uncompromising artis...
I rented the anime anthology Memories by the creator of Akira, Otomo Katsuhiro. The entire film is top-notch, with breathtaking visuals and uncompromising artistry. Each segment is an individual vision instead of marketing-driven by a board table full of business suits. The first episode, Magnetic Rose, set in orbit in 2192, is now my favorite work of animation ever. It's rare to see zero-gravity depicted and ships with thrusters that actually fire correctly to move in it, even in anime (Cowboy ...
For those of you who know Tomak, his Cthulhu statue was blogged by BoingBoing.net today! Tomak, if you're reading this, get photos of your recently finished, wo...
For those of you who know Tomak, his Cthulhu statue was blogged by BoingBoing.net today! Tomak, if you're reading this, get photos of your recently finished, working Minerva fountain on your site quick!
Comments
none
Agnostics, deists, atheists, pantheists, transcendentalists and other freethinkers are meeting for the next local Universist meetup at Barnes and Noble Booksell...
Agnostics, deists, atheists, pantheists, transcendentalists and other freethinkers are meeting for the next local Universist meetup at Barnes and Noble Booksellers on Washtenaw Ave. in Ann Arbor at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, September 2. Those who are curious are invited to join us. Universism unites freethinkers by replacing the traditional concept of faith with reasoned credibility, inspiration in nature, and hope in progress.
Comments
none
Several years ago, The Road Less Traveled suggested to me the idea that everyone could benefit from therapy, regardless of whether a crisis situation has develo...
Several years ago, The Road Less Traveled suggested to me the idea that everyone could benefit from therapy, regardless of whether a crisis situation has developed to force them to consider themselves "sick." From observing the human race, I agree with the author that mental health is always a matter of degree. I'm dubious of the claim that a totally 100% perfect mental state needing no improvement should be considered "normalcy" and there are a few "sick" people ou...
Here I am at Blasted Bill's Birthday Bonfire. I was sitting at a picnic table on the deck a few minutes ago, talking to Narf while Bill grilled the burgers and ...
Here I am at Blasted Bill's Birthday Bonfire. I was sitting at a picnic table on the deck a few minutes ago, talking to Narf while Bill grilled the burgers and dogs. Bill pointed at the railing behind me and said, "oh look, a frog. How did it get up there?" We were on the second story. Narf said "huh. Planet, look at this." "No thanks," I said. I was already getting up, without turning around, and walking back into the house as if under an inexplicable compulsion. &...
Last night I went to Java Hutt with a childfree who I met on the internet. It was a fascinating and animated conversation about the Universe, the unlikelihood o...
Last night I went to Java Hutt with a childfree who I met on the internet. It was a fascinating and animated conversation about the Universe, the unlikelihood of reincarnation, and the meaning of life, among other topics such as cable TV.
There were fruit-flavored syrups on the list at the coffee shop. This surprised me so I decided to try Grape syrup in my coffee because I love novelty for its own sake. In retrospect it was clearly intended for Italian ice sodas.
I went next door to Library Boo...
So many people with relationship domestication issues lately. Some friends of a friend are headed for a divorce. They were in an open marriage, and she fell in ...
So many people with relationship domestication issues lately. Some friends of a friend are headed for a divorce. They were in an open marriage, and she fell in love with another man, which is what open marriage means. I said, "if that's the deal they made, so far so good. What's the problem?" Well, problem is, he suddenly realizes (now that he's into it), maybe sharing his wife is not what he wants after all. Oh, NOW you tell her. But, I can't be too hard on this guy. It's tough enough...
Somebody mowed our lawn.
Including the back yard.
I thought John did it.
He thought I did it.
*theme from the Twilight Zone*
Comments
cosette-valjean on Aug. 1...
Somebody mowed our lawn.
Including the back yard.
I thought John did it.
He thought I did it.
*theme from the Twilight Zone*
Comments
cosette-valjean on Aug. 19, 2004 5:24 AM — Lawn
I heard somebody mowing the lawn on the weekend. I think it was Sunday. I wondered at the time who it might be, but I didn't look. I figured the landlady must have hired someone. (By the way, this is Rachel.) :-)
boosterbaby on Aug. 19, 2004 3:04 PM
It was me, Matthew. I drove over two hours just to do you the favo...
Heavy heart today. I'm getting blamed at work for things that are outside of my control. Rachel is defending the Religious Establishment and criticizing me for ...
Heavy heart today. I'm getting blamed at work for things that are outside of my control. Rachel is defending the Religious Establishment and criticizing me for fighting back. She may as well hold me down while they throw their punches. It's typical of some of my friends to do this but I am resigned to it. It makes me value those who support me all the more. I don't feel in the mood to go to my discussion group tonight, I just want to take a chill pill and not have anything else spoil my day.
Com...
Pardon me while I vent some steam about what I'm feeling right now. Shawshank on The Electric Monk offered to send a free copy of Donald Miller's book Blue Like...
Pardon me while I vent some steam about what I'm feeling right now. Shawshank on The Electric Monk offered to send a free copy of Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz, Nonreligious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality to whoever asked for it, because he had a simple question. "... my question for you is NOT whether it rationally solves the mystery of Christianity (and cures all other ills in the process)," he wrote. "Rather, my question would simply be this -- if Christianity looked ...
Friday the gaming group met at my house, and Rachel and my brother Andy joined us. Rachel provided the snackage and as usual went way overboard on buying stuff....
Friday the gaming group met at my house, and Rachel and my brother Andy joined us. Rachel provided the snackage and as usual went way overboard on buying stuff. But hey, if she's paying for it... such "problems" we should have! Thanks Rach! We played much Navia Dratp, as well as Clans and Hell Rail.
I went to the Michigan Rennaissance Festival Saturday with Rachel and Andy. We sat at a crawl for more than two hours on I-75 which was narrowed to one lane, but when we got there it was fu...
I'm arranging a gathering of SEMI Abstract Gamers at my house on Saturday to celebrate the official release date of the new commercially-produced chess variant ...
I'm arranging a gathering of SEMI Abstract Gamers at my house on Saturday to celebrate the official release date of the new commercially-produced chess variant for which I have waited so long. So, I called up Masquerade Games today to see if they could confirm that Navia Dratp would be on their shelves on Saturday. "We just got that in today," she said. "We were wondering what the heck it is." So, I went right over there after work, bought both starter sets and played the gam...
There's a verse in the bible that says "be ye not drunk with wine, but be drunk with the spirit." If religions were beverages and faith were alcohol, ...
There's a verse in the bible that says "be ye not drunk with wine, but be drunk with the spirit." If religions were beverages and faith were alcohol, Universism would be O'Douls. For those of us who used to be raging irresponsible abusive drunks when we got high on god, this is welcome news.
For those who drink faith in moderation, like Unitarian Universalists, I suppose the equivalent of O'Douls is not necessary. But teetotalism is the right choice for those of us who find the analogy...
"To whom it may concern.
There are two kinds of people in the world:
those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't.
Too often I'v...
"To whom it may concern.
There are two kinds of people in the world:
those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't.
Too often I've been the former.
May I draw a line in the sand on this issue and firmly and resolutely stand with the right kind of people... uh...
Oh never mind.
Amen."
Comments
temujin9 on Sep. 2, 2004 8:53 AM
Amen.
This is a review of Why Christianity Must Change or Die by the Episcopalian Bishop of Newark, John Shelby Spong. I suspected Bishop Spong was a theistic agnosti...
This is a review of Why Christianity Must Change or Die by the Episcopalian Bishop of Newark, John Shelby Spong. I suspected Bishop Spong was a theistic agnostic, and this turns out to be true. Spong is theistic because he believes in something labeled 'god,' agnostic because he insists we can't know anything about it.
One of the things I object to in the book is Bishop Spong's continued favorable use of emotion-packed words without their informational content. He says he believes in God, but th...
iConoclasm
I was looking forward so much to The Fellowship of Reason's 2003 conference on starting local branches, which was cancelled, that I've started discus...
iConoclasm
I was looking forward so much to The Fellowship of Reason's 2003 conference on starting local branches, which was cancelled, that I've started discussions on the forums of the secularist groups I'm involved in, asking for volunteer workers to help me step up to the plate and organize this type of conference. It will be a congress of all moral communities that promote reason as primary, and do not require that we pretend to respect blind faith. The way I envision it, F.O.R., Universist...
I had a conversation with a neopagan about religion recently. Now that I consider how this conversation set off my memetic allergies, it comes as no surprise th...
I had a conversation with a neopagan about religion recently. Now that I consider how this conversation set off my memetic allergies, it comes as no surprise that they usually don't want to talk about it with somebody like me! "Why would I as a non-religious person want them to talk about it?" one might ask. Because there are so many of them in my social circles these days, that I've been trying to sound them out; figure out what makes them tick and what to expect from them. It was nic...
I bought the autobiographical graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson after a discussion on the PCCboard forum. At 592 pages it's the longest graphic novel pub...
I bought the autobiographical graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson after a discussion on the PCCboard forum. At 592 pages it's the longest graphic novel published in the U.S. I enjoyed it! If anybody wants to borrow it let me know. Pastor Garry (who some of you may know from his comments to this livejournal) is an occasional reader of comic books (and one of the closet Fen in my opinion) so he had read it. Or, skimmed it perhaps. He thought the author was saying "Christianity is bad 'cu...
reported about having gone to see The Day After Tomorrow and remarked that this film, while it concerned global events, focused on the lives of a few characters...
reported about having gone to see The Day After Tomorrow and remarked that this film, while it concerned global events, focused on the lives of a few characters. There are two ways that I've found authors can rope in the interest to a story about developments that are happening to our entire species. Non-documentary films always have to use the first one due to the nature of the medium. Which one works better in written fiction depends on which kind of reader they're trying to attract.
In the fi...
This morning's commute was only ten minutes. I'm so excited about my new digs. Moving to Oak Park went fast and without complication. Saturday, my brother helpe...
This morning's commute was only ten minutes. I'm so excited about my new digs. Moving to Oak Park went fast and without complication. Saturday, my brother helped me move what little furniture I have. Sunday, Rachel helped me move almost all the rest of the stuff. Then Blasted Bill came over and fixed my computers and set them up on my housemate 's network. We went to Dairy Queen and picked up Narf on the way, since he lives only a mile away from me.
As we discussed how many of our friends live n...
Scientists today detected a slight wobble in the earth's orbit. It was determined to be caused by Isaac Asimov spinning in his grave. I was seriously annoyed wh...
Scientists today detected a slight wobble in the earth's orbit. It was determined to be caused by Isaac Asimov spinning in his grave. I was seriously annoyed when I saw the trailer to I, Robot and realized it was yet another modernity-phobic action movie. The book I, Robot was a thoughtfully philosophical collection of detective stories about the communion of mindkind. Just like with Paul Verhoeven's film of Heinlein's Starship Troopers, the director of the film probably never read the book.
Com...
Rachel recently noted that I did not try to disappoint my parents during adolescence so I seem to be trying to make up for lost time. :^D Throughout most of my ...
Rachel recently noted that I did not try to disappoint my parents during adolescence so I seem to be trying to make up for lost time. :^D Throughout most of my twenties I was really big on family values, permanent commitment, nesting and trying to have bayyybeeez. Settle down? I was born settled down. I might feel differently after I've tried not being settled down for a while, but in the meantime these things leave me cold. Is it early-onset mid-life crisis brought on by late-onset teenage indi...
In my discussions of marriage law (which are frequent) it amazes me to hear gays tell me how conservative they are. You want to hear an irony? Socially, gay-mar...
In my discussions of marriage law (which are frequent) it amazes me to hear gays tell me how conservative they are. You want to hear an irony? Socially, gay-marriage advocates tend to be conservatives who are romanticizing the stone age. By no means is marriage the only thing that can give love dignity. It is not the only way to create a home.
I will include this paragraph to illustrate, and just so that you know where I'm coming from, but you can skip it and get to the church/state argument. I ...
Last night Blasted Bill was AWOL from his own radio show for an hour! And so were Minion and Narf! At least showed up, and after all she's the reason I was ther...
Last night Blasted Bill was AWOL from his own radio show for an hour! And so were Minion and Narf! At least showed up, and after all she's the reason I was there... ;^)
So there I was. Incomprehensable sound mastering boards to the east of me. Incomprehensable computers to the south of me. Incomprehensable speakers to the west of me. A bed with a gorgeous woman sitting on it to the north of me. And out there, in radio land, our show's fans, listening to dead air. "So what did they do Grandp...
LJ Horror Movie!
LJ Username
Age:
You will love-
twoofdtm
But they vanish with-
thefile
You find-
temujin9
-stabbed to death and-
wormquartet
-will try and kill...
LJ Horror Movie!
LJ Username
Age:
You will love-
twoofdtm
But they vanish with-
thefile
You find-
temujin9
-stabbed to death and-
wormquartet
-will try and kill you with the help of-
brendand
in the end you wake up from a bad-dream with-
treebones
This fun quiz by Midnight_Sunrise - Taken 1157 Times.less
It's tragic that Jack Chick (creator of those comic-book evangelical tracts) has taken legal action to successfully pressure the creator of the parody Cthulhu t...
It's tragic that Jack Chick (creator of those comic-book evangelical tracts) has taken legal action to successfully pressure the creator of the parody Cthulhu tract "Who Will Be Eaten First" into taking down the online comic. When first brought it to my attention, I liked it so much I published it in paper form in the hopes of possibly slipping it into the Chick tracts at my parents house.
Jesus and Cthulhu have this in common: you are presented with a vision of a 2,000 foot tall Jesus...
I'm a fan of the Spider-Man series of films, but I detect biochauvinism in them.
Yesterday at the coffee shop I saw a dangerous petition to enforce a global mor...
I'm a fan of the Spider-Man series of films, but I detect biochauvinism in them.
Yesterday at the coffee shop I saw a dangerous petition to enforce a global moratorium on vitally important genetically modified food. Accompanying it was a horrifically misanthropist newsletter about what the paranoid reactionaries label "Frankenfood." The automatic distrust of technology by default seems to be a rampant problem today. Opponents of technology advocate that we relinquish manipulation and c...
The inventor of Pagan Chess tried to theme this chess variant by making two boards, on one of which, dead pieces continue to operate after being captured. The &...
The inventor of Pagan Chess tried to theme this chess variant by making two boards, on one of which, dead pieces continue to operate after being captured. The "pagan" piece can cross between the living and dead boards. The game involves no pentacles, no sun wheels, no obelisks, and no talismans. The pieces are all different types of humans, not spirit quest animal totems as some other chess variants have used. Actual Neopagans would know better than I how well it corresponds to actual ...
I have always had an extremely powerful "NO." My current circle of friends and acquaintances might not know this because I don't tend to need to exerc...
I have always had an extremely powerful "NO." My current circle of friends and acquaintances might not know this because I don't tend to need to exercise it much these days, but that's because I've deliberately surrounded myself with people who want me to do what I already want to do. When I say no these days it's because I can't.
I had precious little autonomy in my life as a child and teen, but some things couldn't be forced and required actual voluntary participation: TPing houses i...
I've found a place to move, and the date is set for the weekend of July 16-18. A big thank-you to and for letting me know that a mutual acquaintance, , was look...
I've found a place to move, and the date is set for the weekend of July 16-18. A big thank-you to and for letting me know that a mutual acquaintance, , was looking for a house-mate in Oak Park! It'll be only ten minutes to work, and my distance from Ann Arbor will be wonderfully decreased.
* Hopefully I can get some moving done on Friday evening and Saturday morning/afternoon before I go to the ConFusion committee meeting, but the rest will be done on Sunday.
Comments
none
Your Ultimate Purity Score Is...
Category
Your Score
Average
Self-Lovin'
61.7%
Explored the pleasures of the flesh
65.1%
Shamelessness
97.6%
Has yet to see self...
Your Ultimate Purity Score Is...
Category
Your Score
Average
Self-Lovin'
61.7%
Explored the pleasures of the flesh
65.1%
Shamelessness
97.6%
Has yet to see self in mirror
79.4%
Sex Drive
81.6%
The Pope is envious
77.7%
Straightness
23.2%
Knows the other body type like a map
44.9%
Gayness
100%
83.6%
Fucking Sick
100%
90%
You are 78.52% pure
Average Score: 72.7%
Take The Ultimate Purity Testand see how you match up!
I don't know why the results are set up in such a confusing way. Each the percenta...
Eliezer Yudkowski of the Singularity Institute wrote an online supplement for roleplaying in the GURPS system the creation of an artificial intelligence. If on ...
Eliezer Yudkowski of the Singularity Institute wrote an online supplement for roleplaying in the GURPS system the creation of an artificial intelligence. If on your first dice roll you succeed in creating an apotheosis which does not kill the entire human race, you then roll to see if it has the right kind of "friendliness" toward humans. You know how genies can sometimes grant wishes in a sneaky or unexpected way? "Friendly" superintelligent entities can be like that. If thi...
This meme is lifted from the livejournal of .
Greg Egan, Douglas Adams, C.S. Lewis, Orson Scott Card, J. R. R. Tolkien, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Frank Her...
This meme is lifted from the livejournal of .
Greg Egan, Douglas Adams, C.S. Lewis, Orson Scott Card, J. R. R. Tolkien, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Frank Herbert, Tom Clancy, Anne Rice.
The Rules: remove one name from the list, and add one author's name to the list (keeping a total of 10). Put them in order from most favorite to least favorite. (I guess non-fiction is excluded, or else the list would have comprised entirely non-fiction by now. But you decide.)
I don't read Tom Clancy or Anne ...
My current living arrangement is drawing to a close, and the end of July has been set as a target date for me to move out. I'm intensifying my efforts to find a...
My current living arrangement is drawing to a close, and the end of July has been set as a target date for me to move out. I'm intensifying my efforts to find a cheap room to rent. Any suggestions?
My current temp-to-perm job through my temp agency is near Northwestern Highway and 696 in Southfield. They plan to hire me in a couple of weeks, if I choose that. I have enough money for a deposit equal to a month's rent. I don't smoke or own pets, but I don't care if I live with smoking or pets.
Com...
Finally, finally, finally there's an image of Navia Dratp on the web somewhere. The guys and gals at Chessvariants.com had to take my word for it that the darn ...
Finally, finally, finally there's an image of Navia Dratp on the web somewhere. The guys and gals at Chessvariants.com had to take my word for it that the darn thing even exists. In honor of this I intend to nickname the game Snuffelupagus. According to the latest gossip on the web that Google has gotten around to spidering, the debut is pushed back from June to August. Damn it, it was so close!
Comments
matt-arnold on (None)
matt-arnold on Jun. 23, 2004 11:24 AM
OK, now Bandai has put up a we...
My culture of origin substituted logos for mythos. We demanded that our myths be true in the modern literal sense or else without value. This was a tragic mista...
My culture of origin substituted logos for mythos. We demanded that our myths be true in the modern literal sense or else without value. This was a tragic mistake, and its influence on me is still felt. Let me describe the balance that I've reached in my attempts to overcome it.
Author Karen Armstrong, in her book The Battle for God, presents a model of logos and mythos in which there is more than one way for a statement to be true-- things that are flat-out no-question 100% false in terms of lo...
One of the things I like about new agers is that at least they aren't authoritarian. There are worse things than to wander lost in a morass of answer-lessness. ...
One of the things I like about new agers is that at least they aren't authoritarian. There are worse things than to wander lost in a morass of answer-lessness. Other types of theists believe that their god has spoken to us. A being that gets answers wrong is not god, by definition. Therefore the human follower of a very talkative deity (such as the three major monotheisms) has got all the answers. They don't see it this way, but I would feel compelled to admit this if I were one of them. If Perf...
Tonight I'm going to my parents house for a celebratory dinner; tomorrow night Blasted Bill is throwing a party for the birthdays of me, Minion and Narf from Th...
Tonight I'm going to my parents house for a celebratory dinner; tomorrow night Blasted Bill is throwing a party for the birthdays of me, Minion and Narf from The Toad Elevating Moment internet radio show; and Saturday night my friends at Aegis Consulting are throwing an Equinox party on the shortest night of the year to celebrate several birthdays.
There were three gifts I asked for. If you have read the games section of my home website you might know I have been waiting a year for Bandai to rel...
I've answered 700 "Improve My Matches" questions on OKcupid and the Uberalgorithm thinks it has my personality pegged. True? Or not?
"Compared to...
I've answered 700 "Improve My Matches" questions on OKcupid and the Uberalgorithm thinks it has my personality pegged. True? Or not?
"Compared to males his age:
He is less adventurous than most.
He is less spontaneous than most.
He is more literary than most.
He is less loving than most.
He is more capitalistic than most.
He is more pure than most.
He is more independent than most."
Comments
brendand on Jun. 16, 2004 11:22 AM
Other than that "more pure" thing, I th...
Has anybody else seen this OKcupid matchmaking site? It's totally free and the personality inventories are fun even if you don't intend to find a match. I don't...
Has anybody else seen this OKcupid matchmaking site? It's totally free and the personality inventories are fun even if you don't intend to find a match. I don't just mean it's free to try, I mean every part of the site is permanently free, including sending and receiving messages.
It rated me as the Poolboy (Random Gentle Sex Dreamer) even though I think I'm better described as The Backrubber (Deliberate Gentle Sex Dreamer). The initial test that assigns this evaluation is about fifty questions....
Blasted Bill came over yesterday and spent all day on the issues I'm having with all three of my computers. Great progress was made.
Whoever gave the free MEPIS...
Blasted Bill came over yesterday and spent all day on the issues I'm having with all three of my computers. Great progress was made.
Whoever gave the free MEPIS Linux computer which he gave me had left the admin user profile locked with a password, which explained why I was unable to do anything. Bill circumvented this by getting my copy of Knoppix to work. Knoppix is a build of Linux which runs off a CD without touching the existing operating system installation. The people who gave it to me ha...
Rachel got a much better job as a secretary for a law firm. It's not a temp job this time, it has benefits and excellent pay. This was her first week. Her finan...
Rachel got a much better job as a secretary for a law firm. It's not a temp job this time, it has benefits and excellent pay. This was her first week. Her financial footing is now reasonably secure. This should make up for the flooding her apartment underwent when she was out of state a few weeks ago at a wedding.
Comments
twoofdtm on Jun. 13, 2004 9:01 AM
YAY!! I'm happy for her honey. Miss you!!!
treebones on Jun. 13, 2004 1:41 PM
Yay! (:
Is she thinking of getting an email address at some p...
I've been thinking more about the concept that there exists a sliding scale of personhood rather than all-or-nothing. Some ramifications are disturbing. If we g...
I've been thinking more about the concept that there exists a sliding scale of personhood rather than all-or-nothing. Some ramifications are disturbing. If we grant the right to life to infants, and grant the right to freedom to adults, which are considered basic "human" rights, does this mean we should grant expanded rights to the elderly? I don't consider there to be a further stage of naturally-occuring mental development after adulthood. In fact, mental plasticity gradually hardens...
Speaking of DJ Blasted Bill, we had a fun time at his broadcast last night of The Toad Elevating Moment. Between breaks while the music was playing the co-hosts...
Speaking of DJ Blasted Bill, we had a fun time at his broadcast last night of The Toad Elevating Moment. Between breaks while the music was playing the co-hosts argued about abortion. There were not even two people there who took the same position on it. Narf is pro-life, Minion is pro-choice, Bill is pro-death, and I believe in limiting abortions to the first two trimesters except in cases of danger to the mother. As usual I am the only one who doesn't join an absolutist all-or-nothing camp, an...
Bill's girlfriend , who runs The Flying Hamster of Doom Internet Radio Hour, made my day by saying nice things about my writing. I think my self-image is being ...
Bill's girlfriend , who runs The Flying Hamster of Doom Internet Radio Hour, made my day by saying nice things about my writing. I think my self-image is being mis-proportionately affected by spending too much time on internet forums full of people who hate me and see the world in a fun-house mirror reflection of my own. Such correction is valuable, but a balance should be struck.
Comments
matt-arnold on Jun. 10, 2004 9:52 AM
Just in case there was any confusion about that journal entry, blueha...
Yesterday my account was temporarily disabled on PCCboard, the unauthorized message forum of my alma mater, where the alumni discuss (among other things) an und...
Yesterday my account was temporarily disabled on PCCboard, the unauthorized message forum of my alma mater, where the alumni discuss (among other things) an underground resistance to the college. There was certainly no ill intent on my part, but I feel bad about what I did and the consequences. I agree with the moderators' need to make an example of my thoughtlessness. You can read the story in .
I miss the old board, The Student Voice. It was based from the secret subversive student newsletter;...
Bill, Rachel and I met with Kimba and Ron at Penguicon's storage cube. The indoor climate-control facility would make a neat Laser Tag arena. Anyway, the five o...
Bill, Rachel and I met with Kimba and Ron at Penguicon's storage cube. The indoor climate-control facility would make a neat Laser Tag arena. Anyway, the five of us went for ice cream and had a meeting at Baskin-Robbins. The date of April 22-24, 2005 has been settled on for Penguicon 3.0, and I'm in the process of updating the website.
Comments
bluehamster98 on Jun. 10, 2004 1:17 AM — :)
Yay for setting the date!
PenguiCon 3.0 will (hopefully) be my first con as a Michigan resident! :)
-Karen
*...
Now to sum up my reports on Balticon. One of the things that I went on a quest to learn was how they got a fan-film festival, live skits, and a computer gaming ...
Now to sum up my reports on Balticon. One of the things that I went on a quest to learn was how they got a fan-film festival, live skits, and a computer gaming room. The answer is, that they have pre-existing organizations in that area focusing on those activities. Baltimore Gamers Alliance, for example, provided all the equipment for Balticon's multiplayer gaming. They're an organization that pools their money to buy hardware and software they own mutually, which is all dedicated to network wit...
I'm writing this into my pen computer on Saturday in front of the Maryland Science Center while waiting for a free concert of They Might Be Giants! This is beca...
I'm writing this into my pen computer on Saturday in front of the Maryland Science Center while waiting for a free concert of They Might Be Giants! This is because Friday I ran into Molly, a relative of Rob Landley who I met at Penguicon. She lives in this area. She invited me to go with her friends to this show. I listen to TMBG all the time. What an opportunity! It will be my first rock concert. The weather's beautiful. There's a huge metal tensegrity sculpture overhead.
Saturday I wore my t-s...
I'm sitting behind the Operations desk at Balticon. I left Roseville, Michigan at 4 AM and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland at 2:30 PM.
The first thing that happe...
I'm sitting behind the Operations desk at Balticon. I left Roseville, Michigan at 4 AM and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland at 2:30 PM.
The first thing that happened was discovering Stoner Fluxx. There are a lot of fans of Looney Labs Games in this area since this is where the Looneys live. I myself am a Looney Lab Rabbit.
Earl Newton of Southern Ronin Productions was interviewing random attendees in the lobby for a documentary about Fall of a Saga, a parody expose about George Lucas, showing here...
I wonder if a career change is possible. Other people have career plans and goals, but I've never considered my career to be a source of enrichment, just a mean...
I wonder if a career change is possible. Other people have career plans and goals, but I've never considered my career to be a source of enrichment, just a means of paying for all those things that do matter to me. Every time I care about something I usually volunteer, or give it away for free. My greatest passions are in fields that just don't have enough paid work to go around to the legions of hobbyist devotees. Nevertheless. Do I really want to be a pencil pusher the rest of my life, going t...
Dear readers,
I'd like to ask a favor of you.
Here's why: I and some other newcomers to the Church of Virus messageboard are frustrated by the level of inactivi...
Dear readers,
I'd like to ask a favor of you.
Here's why: I and some other newcomers to the Church of Virus messageboard are frustrated by the level of inactivity there. Since so many of the high-influence members post so seldom, or only to the e-mail list, they don't read our posts and therefore they don't rank us on the ratings. So, we can't rise. We can't seem to get responses to our e-mails and private messages to those running it.
So, we want to use the automated ranking system to our advan...
From what I can see of the Balticon website, it looks to be an even bigger and more fabulous science fiction convention than the ones I've been participating in...
From what I can see of the Balticon website, it looks to be an even bigger and more fabulous science fiction convention than the ones I've been participating in. One of their speakers, who is from this area, was given an extra free admission, and generously offered it to me!
I'm hastily planning my road trip to Baltimore Maryland at the last minute. It's a four-day convention from Friday May 28 through Monday May 31. I got the day off on Friday of next week, and the Monday after that is Memorial...
Has anybody else been watching Colonial House on PBS? I ordinarily don't watch much TV but this has enthralled me. One of the participants is a Baptist minister...
Has anybody else been watching Colonial House on PBS? I ordinarily don't watch much TV but this has enthralled me. One of the participants is a Baptist minister from Waco, Texas who the show decided would be the governor of the colony. Other colonists include a liberal theology professor and his feminist wife, a British guy who uses a lot of foul language (and wears a scarlet "P" for profanity all the time), and a married couple of atheists. This group has to live together in psycholog...
Here's another one of those memes spreading through the internet. It works this way. Anyone and everyone reading this post, even total strangers, are invited to...
Here's another one of those memes spreading through the internet. It works this way. Anyone and everyone reading this post, even total strangers, are invited to post a response. Yes, that means you. List something which you would like to do with me someday. Then post to your own livejournal to ask what people want to someday do with you, and I'll post a response to that.
I noticed that this assignment rules out things you want to do at the very next available opportunity. I assume it has to do w...
The Church of Virus describes itself as an online "memetically-engineered nontheistic religion." Hence their logo is a biohazard symbol. Of course, ho...
The Church of Virus describes itself as an online "memetically-engineered nontheistic religion." Hence their logo is a biohazard symbol. Of course, how you define religion and how you define church would determine if you agree with this description. (They have an awesome lexicon of terminology definitions.) By telling you about it, I have acted as a Vector of the Church of Virus.
According to the website, "Virus is a collection of mutually-supporting ideas (a meme-complex) encompa...
I had fun Friday night. DJ Blasted Bill invited me at the last minute to Lazer Tag. Twelve people showed up and we had fun. I got there early, and to my surpris...
I had fun Friday night. DJ Blasted Bill invited me at the last minute to Lazer Tag. Twelve people showed up and we had fun. I got there early, and to my surprise, I discovered Anna is employed there. At first I called her by the name of another girl I know from Con who looks very similar. That was embarrasing. Nine of us sat around outside waiting for the three who actually arranged the activity to show up, and it occured to me to wish that I had my copy of Morton's List with me. So from now on ...
Despite the fact that my virus cleaner is no longer finding Sasser, my AMD Athlon XP 1700 computer still doesn't work. HELP!
It starts up Windows, but when I se...
Despite the fact that my virus cleaner is no longer finding Sasser, my AMD Athlon XP 1700 computer still doesn't work. HELP!
It starts up Windows, but when I see my desktop it shuts down to a blue screen proclaiming a memory dump and telling me to restart while holding the F8 key to access safe mode. This problem doesn't happen in safe mode, but of course I can hardly use my computer for anything when it's that way.
I want to format my hard drive and start fresh. It's a long over-due maintenance...
For a couple of years I've been posting to the forums of the alumni of the private religious college I graduated from. (Here's an essay on what I think about th...
For a couple of years I've been posting to the forums of the alumni of the private religious college I graduated from. (Here's an essay on what I think about the school.) Yesterday I ticked the moderators off even more than usual. Usually I slightly disguise my controversial opinions about religion to avoid being banned. Not that my affiliations are any secret, but the moderators specifically split off from the old messageboard in protest to the old moderator not keeping a leash on me. I got on ...
While looking for a space in the parking garage, my car overheated, as it tends to do. My co-workers and my boss saw me pushing it with a long line of cars behi...
While looking for a space in the parking garage, my car overheated, as it tends to do. My co-workers and my boss saw me pushing it with a long line of cars behind me, and helped me fit it into a nearby spot. I'm so tired of this. If I weren't so over-scheduled, and if I had another way to get to work on Monday morning, I'd take the car in on a Saturday morning to have this fixed.
The fan behind the grill, which I have repaired before, doesn't work. It doesn't blow through the radiator when I'm s...
Ginohn from Looney Labs has linked to my custom Gnostica deck!
Here's a link to the page I maintain about Bandai's collectable anime chess variant (really a Sho...
Ginohn from Looney Labs has linked to my custom Gnostica deck!
Here's a link to the page I maintain about Bandai's collectable anime chess variant (really a Shogi variant) Navia Drapt. I've now learned it's scheduled to be released in June 2004!
Comments
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Despite Rachel's valiant attempts to make ends meet with her receptionist / data entry job, it now looks like she'll have to move back to her parents in Alabama...
Despite Rachel's valiant attempts to make ends meet with her receptionist / data entry job, it now looks like she'll have to move back to her parents in Alabama after all. Her roommate has been in the hospital for the past few months with more incurable fatal illnesses than I can keep track of. So, since the sick lady no longer lives in the apartment, she has decided Rachel is no longer necessary as a live-in caretaker, and is going to have to charge her rent. Unless cheap living arrangements ar...
The symptoms my computer has been experiencing match the description of the Sasser worm. I could follow the instructions for deleting it, but I plan to format m...
The symptoms my computer has been experiencing match the description of the Sasser worm. I could follow the instructions for deleting it, but I plan to format my hard drive and reinstall my software anyway, since that should save a lot of disk space and improve performance on top of killing the worm.
I'd better carve out time to do it soon. Lots of work to do already for the websites of ConFusion and Penguicon.
Comments
thefile on May. 5, 2004 12:48 PM
What are going to work on for the Penguico...
The Penguicon wrap-up meeting was great. Becoming con chair is called "taking a bullet," so when it was announced that Bill Putt accepted the job of c...
The Penguicon wrap-up meeting was great. Becoming con chair is called "taking a bullet," so when it was announced that Bill Putt accepted the job of con chair for Penguicon 2005, he leaped to his feet to slap a bullseye on his chest. Steve handed the meeting over to him and Bill is already rising to the challenge of leadership with great aplomb.
Friday I helped Bill clean and organize his storage closet, and he gave me an Apple Mac G4! (At the meeting yesterday I showed them my Apple d...
As a birthday gift from my parents, I went to a showing of The Lion King last night. (No, I'm not the big three-oh yet. My birthday isn't until June.) It was a ...
As a birthday gift from my parents, I went to a showing of The Lion King last night. (No, I'm not the big three-oh yet. My birthday isn't until June.) It was a fantastic spectacle. They even included Lebo M's african vocals from Rythm of the Pride Lands: Music Inspired By The Lion King, many of which were based on Hans Zimmer's orchestral score, and which were arranged after the film. I've enjoyed that CD for a decade and was surprised and delighted to hear it in the broadway production.
I came ...
Last night Bill Putt and I went to Tio's to talk with Penguicon's committee chairperson Steve G. before the others got there. It's well known that Steve propose...
Last night Bill Putt and I went to Tio's to talk with Penguicon's committee chairperson Steve G. before the others got there. It's well known that Steve proposed marriage to Dawn in the opening ceremonies of Penguicon 2004 and she accepted. He'll be too busy planning his wedding this year to run Penguicon 2005 as well. So since Bill and I are totally geeked on Penguicon and have demonstrated skill sets that complement each other, Steve invited us to talk about finding somebody else to be con cha...
I had a phone conversation last night that has left me with more questions than answers. If you have engaged an Infinite Improbability Drive, kindly turn it off...
I had a phone conversation last night that has left me with more questions than answers. If you have engaged an Infinite Improbability Drive, kindly turn it off. The time has come for realism to deliberately assert itself.
If an infinite number of monkeys appeared outside my window, scratching at the frame and waving manuscripts in ink-stained fingers, demanding to show me a screenplay they've written, I would be slightly less surprised than I am now. I'll write tomorrow when I know more.
------...
-- My computer is back working. I've had the best possible outcome, considering when my last computer wouldn't turn on it was due to the power supply, and the s...
-- My computer is back working. I've had the best possible outcome, considering when my last computer wouldn't turn on it was due to the power supply, and the surge fried the CPU and hard disk on that one! That was more than a year ago-- in this week's "crisis" however, my current computer is in complete working condition with merely a new $4.99 power cord.
-- Let me just say any time Charlie Kaufman makes a movie, I know I want to see it. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is now o...
Some other LiveJournals have started playing this neat little game.
1. I went to the nearest bookshelf. In this case it was on my PDA. You can't get nearer than...
Some other LiveJournals have started playing this neat little game.
1. I went to the nearest bookshelf. In this case it was on my PDA. You can't get nearer than a pocket!
2. I opened the 3rd book from the left on the 2nd shelf. There was only one list so I'm fudging and just picking the third book.
3. I went to page 87.
4. I typed the first full paragraph on the page, in this case the screen:
"I don't think -- "
5. The next step is to choose my favorite word. I don't know why this step...
The Devil from the Sinfest online comic strip (yeah, that dapper guy who serves as my perpetual messageboard icon) has retired from his diabolical job in the st...
The Devil from the Sinfest online comic strip (yeah, that dapper guy who serves as my perpetual messageboard icon) has retired from his diabolical job in the storyline of the cartoon. He now dresses in a T-shirt and shorts.
I too have recently dabbled in the Punk Side. At the panel on Cyber-Age Mythology at Penguicon, I wore a black suit, but in place of a white button-down shirt and black tie, I wore a greyish-blue T-shirt. I had just returned from a failed attempt to dress in a "Men In Bl...
After I got home from helping Tomak with casting his RenFair fountain sculpture last night, I went about hooking up my modem and trying to finally get back onli...
After I got home from helping Tomak with casting his RenFair fountain sculpture last night, I went about hooking up my modem and trying to finally get back online from home. The computer was going through its usual litany, a series of fatal-error restarts it seems to need to go through every time it hasn't been used for several hours. Suddenly, the power supply went kaput, so now when I press the power button nothing happens.
This means there's a great deal of Penguicon still remaining. Let me e...
I carpooled to Ann Arbor for "Tuesdays at Tio's" yesterday. Unfortunately I got the 9 switched upside down in my memory and we arrived at 6:30 pm. So ...
I carpooled to Ann Arbor for "Tuesdays at Tio's" yesterday. Unfortunately I got the 9 switched upside down in my memory and we arrived at 6:30 pm. So I said, "as long as I'm in Ann Arbor I'm gonna go to Underworld." I got the latest issue of Hsu and Chan, Game Designers, which is the only print comic I buy.
When we finally met our friends, we had a great time... but it's a little late at night for people who have to drive back to Roseville and Auburn Hills. I listened in fasc...
I'm typing this from a computer at work because I left my modem at Penguicon! Steve G. is dropping it off with me at "Tuesdays at Tio's" tonight.
Whil...
I'm typing this from a computer at work because I left my modem at Penguicon! Steve G. is dropping it off with me at "Tuesdays at Tio's" tonight.
While at Penguicon I received a whole box of TANSTAAFLs for my new role as editor of this clubzine, from the former editor, my friend Freon. I haven't looked through it all yet but there doesn't seem to be any new content in the box to make a new issue out of, unless it's at the bottom.
It's true what they say about conventions, it's more fun...
At Penguicon 2.0 this weekend, I attended the LiveJournal meetup, where I learned that LiveJournal's become open to all -- I can now stop hassling people to let...
At Penguicon 2.0 this weekend, I attended the LiveJournal meetup, where I learned that LiveJournal's become open to all -- I can now stop hassling people to let me in on the blogging phenomenon.
However, one of the advantages one used to have when it was necessary to be invited onto LiveJournal by a friend, was that you instantly had somebody on your friends list. I was surprised that almost all bloggers seem to hide their identity, so that I have to infer from scattered details in their recent ...