Flutterby™! From 2008-07-01 to 2008-07-31

A modest proposal for the revision of the DSM:

We, the undersigned, support the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) own goal of making its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) a scientific document, based on empirical research and devoid of cultural bias. A diagnosis of a mental disorder can have a severe adverse impact on employment opportunities, child custody determinations, an individual's well-being, and other areas of functioning. Therefore we urge the APA to remove all diagnoses that are not based upon peer-reviewed, empirical research, demonstrating distress or dysfunction, from the DSM. The APA specifically should not promote current social norms or values as a basis for clinical judgments.

Science in psychiatry? There's a giggle. I'm not optimistic. Via.

[ related topics: Humor Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Sociology ]

My son Ben, a guide for one of the Ocoee rafting companies (O.A.R.) is planning a "fun run" for us this Friday. If anyone cares to join us, drop us a line. We should know the time of the run today or tomorrow...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Heinlein Chattanooga Douglas Adams Whitewater ]

Amen, brother: Flexibility is bad design (Via Mars).

In my opinion, good design is whatever results in a shipping product, using the least amount of code, in the least amount of time. This definition won't allow you to say what the best design is, but it does give you a rubric to pit two actual designs against each other. Less code is always better than more code because it will always be more readable, easier to digest, and easier to maintain.

[ related topics: Software Engineering ]

Fetch me my axe: Quote of the Day 6/12/06, repeated here in its entirety:

Unlike Winston, [Julia] had grasped the inner meaning of the Party's sexual puritanism. It was not merely that the sex instinct created a world of its own which was outside the Party's control and which therefore had to be destroyed if possible. What was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship. The way she put it was:

"When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear for you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?"

That was very true, he thought...For how could the fear, the hatred, and the lunatic credulity which the Party needed in its members be kept at the right pitch, except by bottling down some powerful instinct and using it as a driving force?

Since I did nothing here but rip off the entire quote, here's a link to Fetch me my axe, and I got there from Sex In The Public Square.

[ related topics: Quotes Sexual Culture History ]

Study finds long-term benefits in psilocybin/hallucinogenic mushroom use.

A few notes today on policing, private and public: First, town finds "federal" drug agent is really an imposter. Guy comes into Gerald, Missouri kicking down doors and busting up meth labs, pretending to be federal agent. Turns out he's just "...Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding-performing minister, a former small-town cop..." out on a vigilante mission (Via.

Elsewhere, in Pasadena Texas, Joe Horne has been cleared for killing two men who were burglarizing his neighbor's house. In California, we're only able to kill intruders if we can show that they're after us, personally, not if they're just after property. I think I like the Texas take on this better (Via).

In San Rafael, prostitute helps police bust pimp:

Tariq Silas Shabazz, 28, was charged with pimping and pandering, each count carrying a potential sentence of up to six years in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Lori Frugoli.

Glad she was able to break through the stigma and contact the police for help, but I cringe for all of the women still caught between the police and their pimps by the illegality of prostitution.

[ related topics: Drugs Interactive Drama Law Law Enforcement ]

Muscles are still sore, but my blisters are healing up from this last weekend's digging for the sprinkler system. It's pretty plain that wearing a ring is bad for blister creation, adding to the list of circumstances in which it's unwise to wear one. Previously, I'd thought those circumstances limited to the bar in the convention hotel...

[ related topics: tolkien Travel ]

<gripe>Why do so many different systems have so many different rules enforced for unique ids and strong passwords?</gripe>

I started working for Uncle Sam a couple months ago. As part of that, I've had to prove over and over that I'm an American Citizen. That's actually a little more challenging for me because I was born in Germany and the State Department's form number for my birth certificate is different from the one they use now... But that's another issue...

In my regular work, I log into about a dozen different systems. Each one has it's own standards for user IDs and passwords. Some require numbers and punctuation in the user ID, some require numbers in certain positions in the password. All require changing passwords every 90 days. So I've had to resort to the worst possible security failure: maintaining a list of all my user ids and passwords on paper that I carry around with me.

Further, I'm not allowed to have admin rights on my workstation at work. I'm supposed to be exploring extensions to OGC geospatial server protocol standards. I can't do that without installing different server packages and modifying them. And on Windows, that can't be done without admin access.

I work for the USGS. By our mission, we never work on secure information and the results of all of our work is public domain. There's no need for this level of security!

I thought I left this all at work until I tried to pull my credit reports last night from AnnualCreditReport.com provides a gateway to the big three credit agencies to request your reports. I was able to get to Experian without much trouble. TransUnion asked me for a user ID and password which I never got right. So I tried their password help but couldn't get the secret question right. I finally had to order that one over the phone.

EquiFax was the worst. I did have my user ID or password, so I used the password help. The question was "What is your first child's middle name?" My first child has two middle names so I was guaranteed to get it wrong. Ultimately, I ended up on the phone with some guy in India. His first question: "What is your Social Security Number?"! After authenticating myself to this guy - had to provide details about two accounts on my credit report like max limit and account number - he finally told me that my user ID was my first name plus the last five digits of my SSN. He then said the answer to my secret question was "Heidi" which is my first child's FIRST name!

After finally logging into EquiFax and getting my report, I figured I should change my user ID and password to something I might actually remember next year. It turns out that EquiFax requires numbers in your user ID and your last name can't be part of it. So, once again, I had to create a user ID just for this system, write it down and file it away.

The biggest irony is that it doesn't take nearly 1/10th this amount of authentication to actually open an account based on my credit. In fact, more and more places don't even require a signature when you use a credit card.

[ related topics: Microsoft Work, productivity and environment Civil Liberties Earthquake ]

Per Mark's request, a chance to check in on riding. I haven't been doing much of late, I take the bike to the story occasionally, and try to walk the hills in my neighborhood a couple of times a day. Hope to clock in 80-100 miles on Friday, if I can drag a friend out, but the weekends have largely been devoted to physical labor around the house.

[ related topics: Bicycling ]

So there's been a big kerfluffle in the b(l)ogosphere today over one site "unlinking", that is removing all posts that refer to, a person who runs another site. They didn't give their reasons, and in being oblique about the two sites I suppose I'm being as disingenuous as well. Flutterby has links to both sites, but my links to the first site have always been somewhat reluctant.

Flutterby also has lots of archives, some of which give Google juice to sites that no longer deserve it.

I've been considering a couple of things: Either adding rel="nofollow" to every link indiscriminately, adding a feature to pre-render all the pages so that we can afford to look up the various URLs at render time and figure out if we want to remove the Google juice from that link, or inserting a new intermediate script on Flutterby that all links redirect through.

I'm thinking of applying some combination of these two things to the current situation in order to express my displeasure at the lack of transparency with the first party's handling of it. Comments and suggestions accepted...

[ related topics: Web development Net Culture ]

I left for various reasons, and haven't regretted leaving for a moment, but this heartwarming tale of how awesome Pixar is sounds totally like Pixar. (Via)

[ related topics: Pixar ]

Google Maps Fastest Roundtrip Solver is a useful little tool using Google's MAP api.

[ related topics: Maps and Mapping ]

The Top 20 Reasons Not to Move to Dubai.

[ related topics: Art & Culture ]

Crasch has a short entry explaining evolutionary psychology in five pictures.

[ related topics: Humor Photography Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality ]

Ya know how my attempts at making NNTP syndication work for weblogs failed, even though it was plain that RSS wasn't a scalable solution? Remember how I was mocked, shunned at conferences for mentioning the idea? Yeah, well, me neither, mostly, but it happened once. Anyway, Dave Winer's pushing some centralized NNTP-like commercial service to try to alleviate some of the broken-by-design issues with RSS.

[ related topics: Content Management Weblogs Dave Winer Work, productivity and environment Graphic Design Conferences ]

I could've sworn I'd seen this before, but I don't find it on a quick archives search: Homemade Flame Thrower, via CJ, who commented:

I love mine, used to have a problem here in Florida with fire ants in my yard.........   now, no yard........

[ related topics: Pyrotechnics Archival ]

Buying fireworks in Texas? Houston annexing roads just so that it can stop and ticket people with fireworks in their trunks:

"We obviously didn't have any idea that the HPD or the fire marshal was watching our stand with binoculars or whatever," Kammerlohr said. "I realize the city of Houston can do what it wants, but it seems kind of peculiar that they can hopscotch down Fry Road and annex this block and not that block."

[ related topics: moron Law Pyrotechnics ]

Aaron Landry - An Example of Creative Commons Not Working.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Photography ]

When the Chattanooga Times merged with the Chattanooga News-Free Press (yes, really), Chattanooga lost something.

Enter Chattarati: "... communal narcissism for the scenic city." Looks like a decent attempt to bring back... well... if not journalism, something, in Chattanooga.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Current Events Journalism and Media Chattanooga ]

Just playing with a goofy viral marketing site:

[ related topics: Movies Bay Area Consumerism and advertising Journalism and Media Marketing ]

In response to the hullabaloo over General Wesley Clark saying of John McCain "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.", David Rees runs down a list of things that might qualify you for various offices:

Getting really, really drunk at Thanksgiving and crying, "Why was I never good enough for you, Dad?" and then literally eating a banjo, and then saying, "Am I man enough NOW, Dad? Now that I've eaten my banjo-- the one thing I loved, the one thing you could never understand?": QUALIFIES YOU TO BE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE.

[ related topics: Politics Humor ]

Wow, here's 50 minutes very well spent, via Dave's Picks: "Don't Talk to the Police" by Professor James Duane, followed by "Don't Talk to the Police" by Officer George Bruch. Reasons why you shouldn't talk to the police. Period. Whether you're a subject of interest or not.

[ related topics: Law Enforcement Video ]

Aha! I mentioned wanting this feature: British Vauxhall cars have new camera that scans signs and displays the current speed limit

[ related topics: Automobiles ]

Open GPS Tracker. A little device that hooks to a pre-paid cellphone and sends SMS messages with current location and speed. Apparently the firmware can even be set to do things like trigger over certain speeds.

[ related topics: Maps and Mapping ]

Last night from our deck and hot tub, we watched both the baeball stadium fireworks and the official Chattanooga ones at Coolidge Park. Despite the warm fuzzy "life is good" feeling, there was a nagging thought:

Prepare for Revolution Yes/No: [Y]

[ related topics: Movies Chattanooga Pyrotechnics ]

Since I do this every year: The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies.

[ related topics: Politics History ]

And, just for a counter-view, Wendy McElroy: The American Revolution Revisited.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

What do you Call it?

[ related topics: Photography ]

Giggle: John McCain: "...I hate the bloggers..." (thanks, Shadow!).

[ related topics: Politics Humor moron ]

Charlene and I went out to Miwok Beach this morning to take advantage of a minus tide, and saw some neat tidepool stuff

[ related topics: Photography Nature and environment Bay Area ]

Dawn at Niwot Cycles, who hosts my favorite group ride on Sundays (followed by beer and brats), was the official sponsor for this years' Niwot Criterium. A different brand of road racing than I've seen before. I got to spend the better part of the day enjoying the community (and closed streets) in downtown Niwot. Every race was exceptional in it's own way - capped by the 1/2/Pro race with several big names riding (of course, the biggest names associated with that Chipotle-Garmin kit were busy with another little race). The 1/2/Pro was swept by Toyota-United with Ben Day taking top honors.

Maybe next year I'll be in shape for the Masters 35+/4!

[ related topics: Photography Beer Sports Community Bicycling ]

That's "Toast" popping up on the Ocoee River Sunday. Toast is Nancy's son, the hairy pudgy guy on the left is me, Phil Sieg is "riding bull" on the front and a trainee on the right. We spent the weekend hanging at OAR Ocoee River Rafting, feeding river rats with Nancy's red beans 'n rice and chicken chili (30+), lubricating them with cheap beer and watching fireworks antics. "Toast" took us for a full river run... and did about every fun trick you can do on the river, which is a lot. We got chomped and tossed out at Godzilla, We surfed and surfed again... and stayed in the boat when Toast was sure he'd flip us out (on purpose). Meanwhile, back at camp, Nancy tuned up her vacation skills, napping, reading and napping some more.

Dan's probably done that move hundreds of times, I looked for a bright tie-dye OAR shirt, but styles have changes and everything they had was earthy drab.

[ related topics: Photography Food Beer Chattanooga Pyrotechnics Boats Machinery Whitewater Clothing Birds Bicycling ]

Okay, how did I miss Charlie Wilson's War? Mike Nichols, Aaron Sorkin, Tom Hanks et al, doing what is essentially a pro-war pro-CIA pro-interventionist movie? And a comedy at that? I think my Dad had mentioned it in passing, it wasn't on my radar 'til then, but we were looking for something mindless on Saturday evening and it was both giggle entertainment and and an interesting set of statements on foreign policy and U.S. government. Recommended.

[ related topics: Politics Humor Movies History ]

Speech Patterns and Racial Wage Inequality, from Jeffrey Grogger of the Harris School at The University of Chicago:

Black speakers whose voices were distinctly identified as black by anonymous listeners earn about 10 percent less than whites with similar observable skills. Indistinctly identified blacks earn about 2 percent less than comparable whites. I discuss a number of models that may be consistent with these results and describe the data that one would need to distinguish among them.

On the hiking list, there was recently a discussion on the pronunciation of "arctic", which I thought meshed nicely into the what do you call a carbonated sweetened beverage thread. This paper appears to say that if you're black but speak like a white person (all the broad sweeps of that pen apply), you've got wage parity.

This also seems to impact some notions that I've heard in adoption circles, that white parents who adopt black kids need to be sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of the skin color of their children. Maybe this'll lead to some re-evaluation?

For more kindling, Steven Levitt looks at the paper.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Sociology Work, productivity and environment Education Race ]

Brain Aging and Midlife Tofu Consumption:

Results: Poor cognitive test performance, enlargement of ventricles and low brain weight were each significantly and independently associated with higher midlife tofu consumption.

High Tofu Intake Is Associated with Worse Memory in Elderly Indonesian Men and Women. BBC News Article on that paper.

As a poster in the SE thread observed, correlation doesn't imply causation: We don't know if the tofu caused the brain damage, or if brain damage caused increased tofu consumption...

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Health Physiology ]

From The Magus by John Fowles:

Another means society employs to control hazard — to prevent a freedom of choice in its slaves — is to tell them that the past was nobler than the present.

[ related topics: Language Quotes History Sociology ]

Snicker: British judge rules that Pringles aren't potato chips:

Warren agreed. Pringles aren't "made from the potato" for the purposes of the tax exemption, he said. He didn't say what Pringles are, other than that they're tax-exempt.

Via SE. If they're not potato, what are they? Some say Pringles are a communist plot:

All the uniform chips are put into a RED can with a Stalin look-alike on the package and you are going to question this? How can one not see the blatant intention to subvert the American people nearly four decades after it was initiated?

[ related topics: Humor Food Law ]

Andrew Sullivan points out that Bush's speech at Monticello on July 4^th misquoted Jefferson in a very telling way.

[ related topics: Politics ]

The complete California Building Code, online.

We got our first inspection yesterday, to clear the permit for the anti-siphon valves for the sprinkler system. A lot less specific than I thought, but then the only real issue aside from installing them the right way around was that the valves be 1' above the highest point in the rest of the system. Next up, pull the permit for the electrical system rework.

[ related topics: Law California Culture Real Estate ]

The Skepchick and Skepdude calendars, pictures of naked skeptics, for all of your scheduling needs. Via JanieBelle.

[ related topics: Photography Weblogs Nudity ]

Suddenly Last Supper, pop culture takes on Leonardo Da Vinci.

[ related topics: Sociology California Culture Pop Culture ]

In Flint Michigan, (Police Chief David) Dicks is looking for your ass, specifically, Flint cops are cracking down on sagging pants.

"Some people call it a fad," Dicks told the Free Press this week while patrolling the streets of Flint. "But I believe it's a national nuisance. It is indecent and thus it is indecent exposure, which has been on the books for years."

Uh. Yeah. In fact, I believe that there are actually clothes sold which incorporate that "jeans over boxers" look. I think a great test case would be a cop ticketing someone wearing underwear under that get-up.

[ related topics: moron Law Enforcement Clothing ]

Straight Line Designs is a horribly annoying Flash site, but it showcases the work of Judson Beaumont, who does fine woodworking, furniture and cabinetry in a style that'd be right at home in Disney's toon town. So it may be better to see his work at these alternate links:

• Some work at the Van Dop gallery.
• Judson Beaumont as a WoodWorkWeb member.
• an article in the NY Daily News.

[ related topics: Art & Culture Graphic Design Woodworking ]

Hey, Forest and I are going to the Fire Arts Festival on Wednesday Thursday evening. See any of y'all there?

[ related topics: Pyrotechnics ]

W00t! Actually got a couple clear 180°s coming out of the bowl this evening! No toe on the flat! Fell into the big bowl while attempting a stall turn, need to work on those (everyone puts their graffiti on the vertical portions, so my wheels lose traction earlier than I figure they should).

I am the only guy out there on inline skates, and the lure of four wheels on a plank (or two, as JT suggested) or a small bicycle is there, even though I'd have to retrain a bunch of neurons.

And yay for hotter than hell days when nobody else wants to skate!

[ related topics: Dan's Life Skating ]

Netsukuku

...is a mesh network or a p2p net system that generates and sustains itself autonomously. It is designed to handle an unlimited number of nodes with minimal CPU and memory resources. Thanks to this feature it can be easily used to build a worldwide distributed, anonymous and not controlled network, separated from the Internet, without the support of any servers, ISPs or authority controls.

Seems like it'd be worth an afternoon of exploration some time, looks like it'd be particularly interesting for things like wireless sensor networks.

[ related topics: Wireless Cool Technology Embedded Devices ]

Violet Blue talks to Lisa Vandever about the CineKink film festival. A festival celebrating sexy films with story and meaning sounds great, but I haven't even seen Shortbus yet, and our movie consumption seems to be about one a month.

[ related topics: Movies ]

Paul Krugman looks at a baby sitting co-op as a micro-example of central banking policy.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Economics ]

Not only is the value of the dollar dropping, so is the value of a life: EPA has lowered the "value of a statistical life" to $6.9 million, a million less than five years ago.

Keep that dollar value in mind as you breathe the pollution...

[ related topics: Politics Nature and environment Economics ]

Sustainable Power Corp claims "Vertroleum" can "burn at near 100 percent efficiency, leaving behind neither heat nor pollution as proof of the chemical reactions taking place". Prepare for a penny stock scam ala Steorn. 3 billion shares of their "penny stocks" could be pumped and dumped making them rich, without much of a real product. Still. I hope.

[ related topics: moron Currency Economics ]

Side by Side Google and Microsoft Maps - really nice job syncing them up, either of them to the other. Very interesting when comparing imagery.

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft moron Heinlein Maps and Mapping ]

This week the US government will buy Fannie and Freddie and for dessert, IndyMac bank by printing the money out of thin air. But this seems like an amatuer compared to Zimbabwe where the money has an expiration date, like milk.

[ related topics: moron Current Events Currency ]

I've been seeing an image a bunch recently, but haven't linked to it because I hadn't found the original source: It appears that Scott Van Den Plas is the guy who posted the "Wanted: Kool Aid" posters on the damaged brick wall. Giggle.

[ related topics: Humor ]

Kids these days: Paint Ball Sentry, an autonomous paint ball turret. The paint ball sentry demonstration video is very cool.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Video ]

Philip Greenspun is reading The Forgotten Man, an economic history of the Great Depression, and observes that, although during the depression black unemployment was apparently slightly lower than white unemployment:

After FDR’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and all of the other Big Government efforts over the past 80 years to fight inner city poverty and discrimination against blacks… the black unemployment rate is roughly double the white unemployment rate. During the same period, the Federal Government share of the economy, as a percentage of GDP, has grown from roughly 2 percent to roughly 20 percent.

[ related topics: History Race Economics ]

The Liscio Report: Presidential economics: Do parties matter? Via Elf's summary of it, "It's a bukkake party of money shots".

[ related topics: tolkien Currency Economics ]

A child's log building kit mostly made from old fence boards. Kind of like Lincoln Logs, but on a scale that kids can build real forts out of. Here are some shots of completed structures from further down the thread.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Toys Woodworking Festool ]

Figleaf points out that the success numbers on vasectomy reversals may be biased and that vasectomies are probably actually a good mechanism for young men to use for temporary birth control.

Don Mitchell looks at the biology of sexual "morality", why outrage against public figures and sexual scandals might be something rooted deep in our simian hind-brains. (Thanks to Brainwagon for the link to Don Mitchell's Blog)

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Sociology ]

I'm trying to get back on my bike more... working out some kinks and building myself back up for real rides. So I headed for the Riverwalk tonight on my 'Bent, met Nancy for a quick dinner at the Boathouse Grill before taking a long cruise. The Riverwalk is a great place for beginning cyclists or more advanced ones taking it easy and cruising.

And "Mad Max" (I don't know his name)... He's probably 60+ and healthy.. and fast.. cranking down the riverwalk at 15-20+mph barrelling though clusters of kids and walkers holding hands shouting loudly "on your left!" or "coming though" and causing pile-ups. I was behind him and tried to catch up on the not-crowded sections, yelling "Slow the F! Down". I gave up, it just wasn't safe to try to catch up through the amount of people out for a stroll or cruise. I caught up with him on the Walnut Street Bridge as he came back across, and got him to stop for a "chat". It didn't end well, he was a righteous fundementalist and did not like my language. He failed completely to understand the issues he was causing and there was probably no way I could have communicated them so he would. Even the 15-20-30-somethings racing on the RiverWalk -usually- slow down near people and especially kids, but not him.

The good news: My ankles were feeling pretty good and I won't be on the Riverwalk much more.. but when I am, I'm cruising. Waving Hi! at people and kids and enjoying the scenery. Hope to see ya'll there. Slow down and say Hi!

[ related topics: Children and growing up Health Sports Bicycling ]

Little Brother - I need to read this better when I have time. It starts off well: " I'm a senior at Cesar Chavez high in San Francisco's sunny Mission district, and that makes me one of the most surveilled people in the world." and in a fast skim has some great lines.

[ related topics: Bay Area California Culture ]

QOTD:

We live in a capitalist-socialist economy. Profits are privatized, losses are socialized.

[ related topics: Quotes Economics ]

Escaping the Amish - Part 1.

[ related topics: Religion Sociology ]

Giggle: "Friends with Benefits" benefits summary prospectus.

[ related topics: Humor Sexual Culture ]

Charlene and I were down in Fresno last weekend, and found a whole bunch of old 78s in her parents' closet. I called my Dad, who confirmed that he had found a USB enabled turntable, which sent us off on a quest where we eventually found one for less than it'd cost for him to ship his out to us and back, and we digitized a few of 'em.

I think it'd be really cool to post an MP3 of the Armenian version of "The Ballad of Davey Crockett" (and one that's culturally translated too, it has him going to Fresno and LA), but I have no idea how I'd go about unraveling ownership and royalties on such a recording. Normally I'm completely a fan of strong copyright, but I do think there's a point at which the economic value becomes low enough that, unless the original owners are still vested in the recording, it's totally reasonable to let works become general cultural artifacts.

So I'm glad that the European Commission is considering an extension of copyright from 50 to 90 years, with a "use it or lose it" clause.

[ related topics: Music California Culture Copyright/Trademark ]

An odd story: several black Baltimore drug dealers before the federal courts for murder and traficking cite white supremecist legal theories to claim the courts have no jurisdiction over them. This is an unusual turn in the murky world of "folk law", mostly bogus legal theories promulgated by a ragtag bunch of tax protestors and survivalist types. For example, these guys claim that the names on the indictments are only words on paper while they are "flesh and blood people", so they don't apply. The theories never make it through the courts, but in this case it mayu have saved these guys from the death penalty.

[ related topics: Politics Health Law Race ]

Running For Office: It's Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner (XKCD style). Sean Tevis is running for Kansas State Representative, and is looking out to people like... well... me for his fund raising. Does it very effectively, too.

[ related topics: Politics Humor ]

Grand jury reports that in San Francisco, most "homeless" have a home, yet public drunkenness and panhandling still remain a big issue in downtown.

[ related topics: Bay Area California Culture ]

I moved from a 68 to an 11 score. I get zero points for a swimming pool. How about you?

Given the depths that this year's Tour de France seems to have sunk to, I've been pretty much ignoring bike racing. However, there are other races going on, for instance, the Cascade Cycling Classic, from whence comes this story of sportsmanship (is there a gender neutral version of that word?): Chris Horner Gives Fallen Rider (and bike) a 2k Ride to the Finish:

The leaders had already come through when a moto approached me and said, "Get your camera ready - one hell of a shot is coming your way"

[ related topics: Photography Sports Bicycling ]

One of the issues with fingerprints is that there's remarkably little evidence backing up some of the claims of uniqueness. Turns out that's also true for "DNA fingerprinting": DNA matches are starting to turn up among completely unrelated people:

The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.

In the years after her 2001 discovery, Troyer found dozens of similar matches -- each seeming to defy impossible odds.

Via.

[ related topics: Current Events Law Enforcement Race Physiology ]

Shadow forwarded along this video of a velodrome bike race crash that makes me even more nervous about riding amongst people in a competitive environment. One guy slips on a turn, and total yard sale.

[ related topics: Video Bicycling ]

Sixty years ago San Francisco declared the Western Addition "a blight", forty years ago they razed the neighborhood with the promise of re-development, now the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency is pulling out. The officials are putting the best spin on it they can:

"The agency's time there has not been a happy story," said Fred Blackwell, who recently took on the title of executive director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. "There have been thousands of units of affordable housing developed and a substantial investment made in the community, but those things are in no way envisioned as making up for the damage that was done in the early days.

but it's yet another example that the attitude that I most associate with Moa and Stalin, destroy what exists in order to replace it with the fantasy, doesn't work.

[ related topics: Politics Bay Area California Culture Community Economics Real Estate ]

Yo, Chris: One Hundred Push Ups is a six week program promising a hundred consecutive push-ups. Seems like the sort of thing where a little peer pressure might help, Maybe shoot for completion October 1^st?

[ related topics: Dan's Life Physiology ]

Latest addition to the shop is a Porter Cable 7518 3¼ HP 5 speed router in a Jessem Mast-R-Lift. Played with another prototype for the cabinet doors today. Waiting on the finish to dry and a few other tweaks for pictures, but dang, variable speed and enough power to swing the bits does amazing things. A lot less tear-out on the maple. On the other hand it's a lot harder to climb-cut with this setup, something I'm going to have to work on.

[ related topics: Woodworking ]

It is a long way from my own south-east England accent, but not much nearer my trusted American impression. It does sound vaguely American, but like an over-the-top, slightly camp game show host with an occasional lisp - not what I had been aiming for at all.

The reason this statement bothers me is that the author even recognizes he has a "south-east England accent" however assumes that everyone in America speaks the same. I've been everywhere from New Orleans (pronounced nu-awlins) to Peabody, MA (pronounced peebiddy) which is near Boston (pronounced bahstan) to Louisville, KY (pronounced luvell) and I've noticed that people have different accents throughout this country. Heck, until moving to California, I never even realized that almost every movie I see sports characters with southern California accents.



It's quite interesting that most British people I know can't tell the difference between Canadian, Californian, and my general "American accent" and yet a voice coach is telling actors to pronounce words using sounds that only fit in about 6 states where I've been in order to sound what they consider to be "American".



An interesting take-off from Dialects and accent can cost you though.

[ related topics: Language Pop Culture Community ]

Enter each account number you have at the failed institution one at a time.

The customer must enter each account number to determine that account's status. If you have multiple accounts with the failed bank, please enter each account number one at a time.

This service will be available for use no later than the first business day after a bank failure.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

The reception of my first mock-up for a cabinet door was instructive, so here's a first mock-up of the profiles we want to use now that we've got a router that'll swing those bits.

This is just a door, I think I'm going to do a frame shortly so that we can figure out how inset these things will be, and we need to settle on hinges and catches. Once again I had some alignment issues on the miters, I thought I had those licked but clearly not yet. On the other hand I think the straight edges do away with the "oozing caramel" thing, as does the sharper definition on the panel raising.

This hasn't been finished yet, it's got a coat of light shellac on it to seal the pores, but I'll be laying a coat of pore filler in the mahogany, and we're still trying to figure out if we're going to dye the maple, or just let it age into its orange color naturally. Maybe we'll just help it along with an oil based polyurethane, which has a slight yellow-ish tint.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Woodworking Home Improvement ]

Locksmiths feel threatened by hobbyist lock pickers:

"This is a skill that can do a lot of harm," says Paul Bentley, president of the Association of Ontario Locksmiths. "That's why we kind of protect it."

Yeah, because security through obscurity and suppressing information about exploits works so well. Sounds to me like there's an industry afraid of being exposed as snake oil salesmen. Via.

[ related topics: Cryptography ]

From Bicycle Safety: How NOT to get hit by cars":

This page shows you real ways you can get hit and real ways to avoid them. This is a far cry from normal bicycle safety guides, which usually tell you little more than to wear your helmet and to follow the law. But consider this for a moment: Wearing a helmet will do absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting hit by a car! Sure, helmets might help you if you get hit, and it's a good idea to wear one, but your #1 goal should be to avoid getting hit in the first place.

Real information about the myriad ways of getting hit by a car and the best ways to avoid each situation.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Television Automobiles Pedal Power Bicycling ]

I'm prototyping a bike computer using an Atmel ATmega16 with the 32kHz clock crystal, and yesterday I was having some really wacky situations where it appeared that sometimes the crystal just wasn't starting. My little development board breaks out all of the pins to standard headers that the STK-500 uses. TOSC1 and TOSC2, the pins which drive the crystal, are shared with pins 6 and 7 of PORTC, so I had the little through holes on the board to solder in the crystal, and then continued the traces through to the connector for PORTC.

This morning I decided to cut the continuation of those traces, and now the board works wonderfully. This is a note to anyone dealing with such issues in the future: Half an inch of empty board trace can keep even a slow crystal like that from starting. My next proto board design is going to be even more compact than the 2"x2½" of the current one.

[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Embedded Devices ]

Joanna Davidovich made a short film she called "Juxtaposer" and uploaded it to YouTube. Then Viacom made a fraudulent copyright takedown notice against her film. The comments on the original weblog entry, Viacom Wants To Steal My Film, indicate that this isn't a one-time event. Via MeFi.

I'm a big supporter of copyright. I think creators should be able to maintain the rights to their films in pretty much anyway they wish. But I also think that this sort of legal misconduct, especially when it's widespread and institutionalized, needs to carry some super heavy smackdown. I think it'd be perfectly reasonable that the person who instituted this fraudulent claim served the same sorts of jail time that any other hardcore copyright infringer is faced with.

[ related topics: Movies Law Civil Liberties Copyright/Trademark ]

Parts of COPA struck down, yet again.

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture Net Culture ]

In Ohio, fighting off the mosquitos with a baseball bat. But here in the midst of fertile agricultural land I enjoyed reading about farming back in California: Gold is beautiful, but the smart money buys aluminum.

[ related topics: California Culture Economics Real Estate ]

While we're on the agricultural bent, CJ passed along this SFGate article about a company that does vegetable gardens, including upkeep and harvesting, in your yard. Charlene has finally conceded that if we can make it look nice she'd be okay with edibles instead of lawn in the front. We're willing to do our own planting and upkeep, but someone who can take my side reassure her that it'll actually look decent while being productive would be worth paying for.

Heck, I might not even resent the hours and hours spent cutting in the trenches for the lawn irrigation system then...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Work, productivity and environment Gardening ]

Greek court rules that you can be a lesbian even if you're not from the island of Lesbos.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events ]

A good RS-232 Analyzer/Monitor/Sniffer/Injector is a very useful tool. I tried several while "sniffing" some proprietary serial interfaces/code. This one is good enough to run Windows to use, and good enough I paid for a licensed copy. It handles strange characters and does ascii/hex/binary modes well. To do serial sniffing you may want to splurge for their full duplex cable as it will sync up better if you are using hardware flow control, but a quick kludge cable worked for me as my target used software flow control.

[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Interactive Drama Microsoft Software Engineering ]

Back from a nice visit with family in Ohio, saw relatives I hadn't seen in decades. Jeff, sorry we didn't get down to the motorcycle show to see you, the momentum to hang out on the grass by the pond was pretty high. Got up at 3:15EDT Monday morning, 12:15PDT, and have fired up the computer to take care of some email, but at quarter to 7 PDT I'm barely coherent. Watched "After The Wedding", hoping for a "help us stay up so we can get past the jet/stupid schedule lag" movie, instead got a challenging Danish drama. More on that later.

[ related topics: Dan's Life ]

Locks and LockPicking as Security Through Obscurity - Good light article with a lot of useful links like: LockPicking 101.

I was actually taught basic locks and lockpicking in the USAF in order to get past locks on equipment cases, useful when you need to fix something that the vendor does not want you to be able to fix. The locks were minor, and if you bypassed a lock to replace a fuse, battery or more, the vendor could claim you were not authorized to fix it and they were no longer liable. It was usually easier to get past the lock than "tamper resistant" special screws.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama History Fabrication ]

BeagleBoard, 600MHz, OpenGL at 10 million polys/sec, USB 2.0 (as both host and client), MMC/SD/SDIO and DVI-D, audio, S-video, powered off the USB port, runs Linux, $150 quantity one.

[ related topics: Free Software Music Open Source Graphics Video ]

Too long coming, but glad it happened dept: Ted "series of tubes" Stevens of Alaska, longest running GOP senator, indicted. Here's an Anchorage Daily News rundown of the current state of the political corruption investigation.

Somehow I think the effort to buy back Alaska has not been made obsolete.

[ related topics: Politics moron Alaska ]

National Car Transport Service. Glen Campbell is a laid-off airline worker who still has free flight privileges, so he'll shuttle your car from place to place for $500 plus gas. Via.

[ related topics: Aviation Space & Astronomy Automobiles ]

The Spokane Spokesman-Review (great name) has obtained a list of people who purchased bogus college degrees from a local diploma mill. They discovered people in the military and government on the list, which they have published. Anybody you know on the list?

Taking off from that, I've always wondered if employers notice that the supposedly baccalaureate new hire doesn't seem, well, smart enough to graduate from Pismo Beach Polytech? Or are they shocked to find out that the well-read, cultured person is actually using a naugahide instead of a sheepskin? I've known a few dunderheads who graduated legitimately, so what is the use of that paper?

[ related topics: moron Work, productivity and environment Heinlein Education ]

Remember the RepRap, the first 3d printer to be able to replicate most of its parts? TSA incompetence destroyed its first child.

Since I just got back from a trip that involved a reasonable amount of flying, including watching some seriously Laurel and Hardy antics at the Detroit TSA screening machine, bags all dropped and bounced, I think it's a testament to the failure of our government that these bozos have anything to do with air travel.

Of course DTW (Detroit airport) always makes me wonder that we don't have airplanes falling out of the sky: People have bought tickets, you know how many people will show up, how hard is it to staff appropriately?

[ related topics: Aviation moron Travel ]

Yesterday evening I was feeling fuzzy, so I went over to the skate park to thrash for a little. Was seriously sluggish coming up out of the bowl, flailing all over the place, I figured I was still lagged from lack of sleep on Sunday night and Monday morning, and I just stayed on the smaller edges. Pulled a 180° or two, then missed one and went down hard. Hit my helmet hard. Body went into shock, shoulder hurt like hell, so I went and sat for a while, then gave up and went home.

This morning I called the Kaiser ask-a-nurse, and rather than give me an appointment they said "hie thee to an emergency room", so I did. ACJ (Acromioclavicular Joint) separation, not a break, but that shoulder will be delicate for a month and a half or so. So much for "100 push-ups".

[ related topics: Skating ]

NY Times: When Official Truth Collides With Cheap Digital Technology. What I don't understand is why the officers mentioned in these cases haven't been charged with perjury. Seems like the New York DA's office is colluding with the police in a way that demands federal investigation and intervention.

[ related topics: Law Enforcement New York ]

This morning I installed the local version of Google App Engine and whipped together some code for it. One of the things that impresses me about it is that it seems like it's got little lock-in, if you want to run it on your own servers it's mostly a compendium of things like Django, the few Google specifics have possible replacements or whatever. I actually don't think it's that much work to move it to other servers, but for future reference AppDrop runs Google App Engine apps on Amazon EC2.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Books Work, productivity and environment Machinery ]