screaming.org

The iPad is a Starship Bridge Accessory Lacking Only Janice Rand to Fetch It.

2010-04-04T09:44:00.009-05:00

I'm thrilled that a historical moment has finally come upon us that inspires this kind of thinking and writing about the environmental differences between being a fledgling hacker in 1979 and a fledgling hacker today.I grew up in relative isolation in a village of 180 people in southeast Nebraska. During the summer between the 5th and 6th grades my dad bought, at great expense, a TRS-80 Model I

internet dream

2010-02-01T07:33:00.004-06:00

I had a dream last night. In it, a friend had tipped me off that some stuff I did back in the TRS-80 Model I days had appeared online in a search engine. I used the suggested keywords, and sure enough: a blast from the past.I immediately began composing an update to my Facebook status: "The internet is an autistic savant manchild - 82, 82, 82...82 what, Ray? 82 flamewars".When I tried to

the burninator

2009-07-09T21:41:00.006-05:00

"That looks pretty good...coming out of the back of his neck there." - StrongbadI've been told, in no uncertain terms, that the name "Trogdor" cannot be used as the baby's name...in neither the first nor middle positions. Still, from the sonogram the baby is just a few consummate Vs away from the mighty dragon. Oh, yeah - check out baby's majesty. And, speaking of mighty dragons, the sonograms

kwisatz haderach

2009-06-21T14:55:00.008-05:00

March madness brackets are not an obscure form of punctuation? I'm disappointed.

sold, closed, and closure

2008-09-26T11:14:00.008-05:00

Hollywood makes it look like it's all over when you blow the alien out the airlock — as if all that stands between the nightmare and your new life is some chamomile tea, the soothing purrs of your feline friend, and some quality time in a hypersleep chamber. In the real world, you own the Nostromo. God knows you don't want it anymore: more cubic feet than you can care for, someone else talked

dexter is running out of ideas

2008-09-03T16:59:00.004-05:00

Today someone found my blog using a particularly disturbing search phrase.

drink recipe: seattle carbanger

2008-07-27T13:27:00.029-05:00

(Disclaimer: the actual manner in which this event escalated is still being sussed-out at the time of this writing.)Ingredients: one Critical Mass militant-biketard rally,one type-A cager (late for reservation),one white Subaru,one cyclist lawyer.To make, place the cager in the Subaru on a street in Seattle. Setting a handful of cyclists aside for later, take the remainder and conduct a

help me afford a new bike

2008-06-26T15:55:00.017-05:00

If you've been paying attention, you may recall that I've been riding the same, decrepit hybrid for too long — that I'm way overdue to get myself some new wheels. You're probably thinking that I should just do it instead of talking about it. Maybe you've given up on me, and think that this whole bicycle thing is just a big charade — that I'll never get out there on the dirt with a 29er.

RIP George Carlin (1937-2008)

2008-06-23T09:10:00.006-05:00

One of my dad's guilty pleasures, which he kept hidden in his closet safe from the children, was a couple old audio cassette tapes of George Carlin. Of course I liked the 7 dirty words you can't say on television the best when I was young, but now I appreciate George for his comedic wisdom.Most recent performance: "It's Bad For Ya!" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]Good bye, George. I know you're down

Dark Triad: I am the LOLrus

2008-06-19T15:32:00.016-05:00

I learned some interesting new psychology jargon this week ("dark triad") and it prompted me to finish Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door — which I had started a while back but from which I was distracted.Stout's book is a comprehensive look at the invisible four percent of the population who are missing something that the other 96% of us assume that we all have: a conscience, which Stout

journalism is not dead yet

2008-06-09T08:51:00.009-05:00

That last several years have been dismal for journalism, with a bizarre combination of inability and unwillingness to hold the administration's feet to the fire. To anybody who finds Rupert Murdock's growing empire of unwilling journalists to be particularly frightening, this thrilling video may be a welcome sign of hope.This video shows the intrepid Bill Moyers in a fascinating encounter

unassimilated people

2008-05-30T08:45:00.006-05:00

One link going around today is a story about a tribe of people, native to "the Amazon rainforest near the Brazil-Peru border" and presumably as-of-yet contacted by anyone, who were recently photographed from the air. Their body language communicates something akin to "WTF!? Sulu, lock on phasers!" Another writeup at Reuters has 7 other pictures, which give a good view of their dwellings.

trippy web experience of the day

2008-05-21T11:06:00.016-05:00

My morning started by clicking on a CNN video entitled "Bible Promotes Polygamy, Preacher Says". The segment mostly amounts to Nancy Grace wagging her finger about the sexual practices of some preacher-dude. She implies that his dipstick is checking the oil on more engines than god allows, spawning children at a rate of one every 4 months or something. He tries to downplay how much he's

1992

2008-05-20T09:53:00.010-05:00

The space shuttle Endeavour flew her maiden voyage. Dan Quayle gave his famous Murphy Brown speech. Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia. Nirvana replaced Michael Jackson at the top of the Billboard charts.Johnny Carson retired, Jay Leno took over, and I bought a bike.I lived in the near-south neighborhood, and walked every day past a bicycle shop on my way

the amazing intelligence of crows

2008-05-14T07:54:00.002-05:00

I, for one, welcome our new Joshua-Klein-trained underlings.

Lincoln Marathon 2008

2008-05-04T11:19:00.011-05:00

One great aspect of downtown apartment living is the extremely low threshold for civic participation. This morning I woke up to people making sounds of encouragement. This is a picture of what I could see from my living room window.So I took a shower, made myself an iced soy mocha, grabbed my camera, and went down to get a closer view. Does anybody recognize any of the runners? There

desperate housewives: a cognitive heatsink

2008-04-28T10:17:00.005-05:00

Sixteen minutes of Clay Shirky on tapping into it.

condo

2008-01-26T11:58:00.001-06:00

One of my resolutions for the new year was to sell this huge 'suburban' house and get a smaller place that I can manage. I'm pre-approved to buy a condominium on 10th & O. We should be closing on February 21. I've uploaded some pictures to give an idea of the space and the context. This is not my furniture, of course. My favorite feature: The Blue Orchid is diagonally across the street.

duelity

2007-12-12T13:49:00.000-06:00

Duelity is a pair of brief movies about the cultural war between the two dominant stories of how things came to be: creationism and big-bang-slash-evolution. There is one movie about each, both the same length. Interestingly, neither movie tells either story in the way preferred by the proponents of each story. Rather, the telling of the scientific story is done in mock-biblical language,

Winning the Oil Endgame

2007-12-11T16:33:00.000-06:00

kicking off the season

2007-11-24T21:52:00.000-06:00

I had the honor of seeing the whole thing when it was new. Here it is in condensed form. (It's much better this way.)

cool bike frame tech

2007-11-19T21:21:00.000-06:00

Check out this article on a cool idea for making a lighter frame.

longstinger, 1941-2007

2007-11-01T14:46:00.001-05:00

At some point during my adolescence I remember asking my father if he ever had a nickname. He said some guys used to call him "Longstinger" when he was in the navy.Gary K Longsine, born on December 21, 1941, had a passion for technology from a young age. His education in electronics came from serving. He spent some time on The Hornet, and yet more time in Hawaii. He was a "radio man",

one hundred percent

2007-10-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

Today a good friend said that I was a Horton-the-elephant type, as the character appeared in the original egg book. Is that a compliment, or is he saying I'm a naïve, anachronistic tool?

maybe get a blister on your little finger

2007-08-27T10:01:00.000-05:00

Meet Sean Pohl Bogen, up-and-comming rock star. Sean is my nephew, so I am "Uncle Pohl" to him. This is music to my ears; Pohl is my first name. Sean has had guitar-on-the-brain for a long time now -- fueled by, among other influences, occasional family jam sessions with Mark (his drummer Dad), Al (friend of the family), and myself. One of the most heartwarming moments: Sean thanking me

people ready software

2007-06-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

Most bloggers don't think about it, but they have some amount of power. Even low-traffic blogs like mine have some. Consider this: back in January when the iPhone was announced, I expressed my techno-lust in a blog post entitled "phonegasm". Fast-forward to the present, and notice that if you to a google image search for the word "phonegasm", the first page of results has several pictures that

liberty of the seas

2007-06-14T22:24:00.001-05:00

I uploaded some scenes from my grueling work trip. Due to unforeseen delays, my time in the caribbean had to be extended by another week aboard the luxury liner.Aw, shucks.

it's a rough life

2007-05-27T21:39:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this from the Atlantic Ocean. My team and I are being held captive on a luxury liner, being forced drink strawberry daiquiris against our will.Well, ok, we're actually stuck in our cabins writing code, and let me tell you it's really hard to work in the midst of over 3000 people who are all on vacation. It makes a guy want to take one.A couple of cell-phone pics here. Have fun

they don't fall down

2007-05-15T09:27:00.000-05:00

My good buddy Tim has spent several years teaching English overseas, first in South Korea and later in Japan. When he came back to visit, he would bring gifts from afar: wind-up toy cars shaped like blocks of tofu for the kids, and for dad a magazine that one might find in the hands of men on public transportation systems. (I couldn't decipher the text, but I believed it to be a treatise on

evel knievel's last jump

2007-05-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

Kyle, the youngest of my three sons, has been asking whether we have a video camera. He "needs" one because he and his friends want to videotape themselves performing some damned-fool jackass bicycle stunt and put it on YouTube.Not wanting to see such an energetic young boy spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, I did my best to channel the living spirit of Alberto Gonzales, saying that I

shall i nail thee to a summer's day?

2007-04-23T11:05:00.001-05:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cMeta-Free-Phor-All: Shall I Nail Thee to a Summer's Day?www.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorStephen Colbert in IraqIn celebration of National Poetry Month, Robert Pinsky appeared on The Colbert Report, taking the opportunity to plug his poem "Samurai Song", which Colbert wanted to make "the #1 poem in America." I'm doing

soccer dog

2007-04-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

...and I thought teasing a cat with a laser pointer was fun to watch.

spring blue

2007-04-01T10:06:00.000-05:00

A windy sunday morning ride downtown to the office. Something made the blue sky pop out. Maybe it was the green, or the flowering trees. Or maybe it's just that I was riding later in the day. The camera-phone didn't really capture it.

thou shalt not smile

2007-03-31T13:22:00.000-05:00

A large volume of paperwork is never fun. When done in a rush, it's quite taxing. Oh, that reminds me...Anyway, I have applied for a passport. The most amusing aspect of the application was that one is forbidden to smile for the photo. I'll be leaving the country for the first time ever: work demands that I fly to Southhampton, England, where I will board a ship and immediately return to

green river

2007-03-10T15:50:00.000-06:00

Back in August I mentioned that I had "pulled the dishwasher door off its hinges, incurring household costs I fear calculating".The whole affair started one day when I noticed that the machine would tip forward when the dish racks were extended whilst fully loaded. It turns out that these devices are not balanced in this configuration, and rely on the screws affixed to the underside of the

inertial dampeners failing, captain

2007-02-22T10:14:00.000-06:00

Enough with the car already. I'm back on two wheels. I made the journey very carefully. I thought the warmth of yesterday would have eliminated the black ice by today, but there are patches where the snow melt runs slowly across the path. The underpasses were particularly treacherous.Not only that, but I only had my rear brakes. I'm not sure how ignoring my bike for a month or two could

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2007-02-12T08:32:00.000-06:00

going out like stumpy joe

2007-02-09T09:35:00.000-06:00

Anna Nicole Smith may have died in the same manner as Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs. But you know they can't prove whose vomit it was...They don't have the facilities at Scotland Yard...you can't print...there's no way to print a spectra-photograph......you can't really dust for vomit.(Yes, you all have my blessing to make fun of me when I go.)

Phil couldn't be bought

2007-02-02T09:57:00.000-06:00

Today the fourth report from the IPCC has been released. You can grab the report here. It's only 21 pages long, including the cover sheet. Here's the executive summary: by the end of this century:Probable temperature rise between 3.25°F and 7.2°FPossible temperature rise between 1.98°F and 11.52°FSea level will probably rise by 11 to 17 inchesArctic summer sea ice disappears in second half of

water under the bridge

2007-02-01T07:59:00.000-06:00

I was in a different world the last time I mentioned the Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge, which is now under construction.When I went up to Omaha on Friday to reconnect with my old friends, I was able to snap a picture of the construction.Apparently the finished product should look something like this.

iTube

2007-01-29T08:46:00.000-06:00

The old crew was back in town, with Vishal flying in from one coast and Praveen flying in from the other. We gathered in château Sharma for good food, spirits, and fun.I got schooled in the art of flambé in general, and bananas foster in particular. Thank you, Steph!I had tried to make it a couple of times before, but had difficulty with the sugar becomming hard, charred candy. (Solution:

avoca quack-off duck races

2007-01-25T14:25:00.000-06:00

Some days one wishes they didn't fill their calendar with other plans. Just got this from a friend at work:Sorry for the short notice but that is no reason to miss an event such as this:Saturday Jan 27th is the 27th annual Avoca NE Quack-Offhttp://netnebraska.org/extras/nextexit/dreams/quack_03.htmlIt's the fundraiser for the volunteer firefighters in a small town an hour outside of Lincoln.

Idiocracy

2007-01-22T07:05:00.000-06:00

We don't have television in our house (let alone cable), but we do rent a DVD on occasion and watch it on the computer. Not having a television has disconnected me from the stream of movie promotions, so when I go I'm often faced with endless shelves of movies of which I have not heard. Last night's strategy for movie selection: here's a movie they have a bajillion copies of almost

multitouch demo

2007-01-18T11:32:00.000-06:00

My brother tossed me a URL to a really cool video of Jeff Han demonstrating the revolutionary multitouch user interface behind the iPhone (which, by the way, already has a nice wikipedia page.)It's fun to watch. This concept will inevitably come to a laptop near you.He also sent a link to an article over at fastcompany.com.

espresso love

2007-01-12T09:40:00.000-06:00

If you love something, let it go. If it was meant to be, It'll come back to ya.Or so they say. It's been as many months as I can count on a hand, each morning devoid of a reason to rise, going through the motions only because I know that not getting up would be worse. Such utter emptiness. But I have finally come to terms with the sad fact that it doesn't matter how much I miss it. It's

phonegasm

2007-01-09T13:44:00.000-06:00

I thought I got excited about announcements from Apple. You should have heard the design team cheering. They all disappeared into the small conference room to watch the news come in from the Macworld keynote, and they sounded like a bunch of Husker fans watching the team pull off a trick play to win a championship game.What were they hollering about? Only the coolest freakin' phone yet

lightbulb lament

2007-01-02T22:16:00.000-06:00

Behold one of the best lightbulbs I've ever purchased: The Philips IQ, which is basically a standard incandescent bulb, except that it happens to contain a special application-specific integrated circuit that automatically turns the bulb off after 15 minutes of use. (There is a way to override this behaviour to keep it on constantly: toggle the switch before turning it on. Exactly how many

squirrels in the attic

2007-01-02T14:20:00.000-06:00

It started with the onset of cold weather. At first it was so faint that I could not be certain of hearing it, and only at night: Was it scurrying? Scratching? Gnawing? Comming from the walls? The ceiling?There is now no room for doubt -- something is living in my attic, and very energetically. The mind's eye pictures a sad family of squirrels, all perpetually itchy from their

boys night out

2006-12-31T01:38:00.000-06:00

The second-to-last night of the year, a.k.a "amateur night eve", was spent out with by brother-in-law Mark. Mark and I are two-thirds of "Al and the in-laws" (the other third being Al), although "out-laws" might be more appropriate now.We began with dinner at Venue. I've wanted to check out Venue ever since I was accosted in a bar by a woman in the O'Hare airport (on the way back from Miami)

randy loves his cow

2006-12-22T11:37:00.000-06:00

I have finally uploaded some of the pictures I took on the business trip to Miami. (Incidentally, someone else blogged about my original post here.) I'm no photographer, and I had just bought myself a new camera, and was trying to figure out how to operate it. While I didn't get to take a cruise, I did get to tour a cruise ship. This provided lots of opportunity to practice

here comes the sun

2006-12-20T23:06:00.000-06:00

December 21 marks the shortest amount of sunlight that we'll get in the northern hemisphere. For those of you who need more sunlight in your day, it's going to get better from here onward.It's a very special day. Enjoy it.

The Areas of My Expertise

2006-12-20T10:21:00.000-06:00

A friend at work turned me on to a free audio-book by John Hodgeman, the man who plays "The PC" on the Get A Mac commercials. If there's any part of you that appreciates deadpan, absurdist humor, you should check it out.

grumpy parental unit

2006-12-19T08:51:00.000-06:00

Last night my 16-year-old son revealed that he blew off school all day yesterday, sleeping till noon and not bothering to go in at all -- after having gone to a movie with a friend the night before.He forgot to set his alarm, apparently. So last night I responded with love, and told him to remember to set his alarm.This morning I go into his room, and he's lying there sleeping through his alarm

life 2.0

2006-12-18T14:35:00.000-06:00

I am now a divorcé. The final hearing was early this morning, and there was no earth-shattering kaboom. The judge didn't even bang a gavel to signify the dissolution of our social construct. So far today it's a bit like one of those divisible-by-ten birthdays where you wake up and realize that you don't really feel different than the day before, contrary to built-up expectations.In my head I

thank you

2006-12-17T22:33:00.000-06:00

I've got my extra optical inch. Do you?Help me out: what's the bleeped-out word that rhymes with "sconce"?Watch the video. There's some brilliant viral marketing going on here.

nature without man

2006-12-17T15:13:00.000-06:00

"the boundary:the border of right and wrong.the tariff is self.the freedom, feeling.the criminal, the pied piper,is the heart and mind.nature without man."The Minutemen,Double Nickels on the Dime.

2006 Duffy's Hall Of Fame

2006-11-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

Duffy's Tavern has always been the bright center of the local musical universe to me. Of course if one speaks that way of it, someone will protest by recalling the halcyon days of The Drumstick and The Brickyard, but those venues were just a wee bit before my time. To me they are just stories whereas Duffy's is an old haunt.Yes, there was good music to be had elsewhere, especially at The Zoo,

Miami, Days 2 & 3

2006-11-20T12:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's big goal was to tour the Freedom of the Seas, which was a thrill-and-a-half for this land-locked young feller. Today's task was to talk shop with techies. Implementation details galore.

Miami, Day 1

2006-11-19T09:41:00.000-06:00

The first flight was a small-ish jet from Omaha to Chicago. A large New York Yankees fan slept in the row behind us the entire flight, snoring. It sounded like a 7-ear-old aggressively trying to extract the last bit of chocolate malt, through a large straw, from a large paper cup which perpetually had two tablespoons of chocolate malt left in the bottom. How I wished that was an

trout mystery, sideshow, self righteous bros to be inducted, perform

2006-11-16T21:03:00.000-06:00

This just landed in my inbox. I've seen Trout Mystery once. Same with Sideshow, I think. I've seen the Self Righteous Brothers more times than I can recall. And now, the chance to see them all again...For those who have only heard about the rich musical heritage of the Lincoln music scene, and heard the epic sagas about the bands...Like the one about Mike Keeling single-handedly defeating the

jolly good

2006-11-16T19:21:00.000-06:00

If I wanted to be a serious, modern media outlet there are two things that I'd have to start doing. One is that I'd have to phrase things as questions that I'm too timid to phrase declaratively. The other is that I would have to start reporting on the blog itself, as if it were newsworthy, when I've got nothing better to say.So without further preamble...Is the sudden spike in web traffic

go vote

2006-11-07T11:02:00.000-06:00

the results are in

2006-11-05T14:00:00.000-06:00

[Part 1|Part 2|Part 3| Part 4]The data has been collected. I ran parallel events with two similarly-sized pressure pots. On the left is a Kuhn Rikon 3.5 liter pan, and on the right is a Vinod 3.0 liter. Although they each claim a different capacity, the 2/3rds mark (the maximum capacity on any pressure cooker) comes to about the same amount: 8 cups in the case of the Kuhn Rikon, and 8.5 cups

dead man pedaling

2006-11-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

[Part 1|Part 2|Part 3| Part 4]My secret life in the world of international culinary espionage takes a back seat to my career. I did collect data last night, and am getting ready to blow the lid off this story...as it were.But work comes first.Please, any guesses? Let's make this a guestimate game so that I get to have a little fun before I meet my grim fate."Forgotwhoiam" amended their 5

shiny new vinod

2006-11-01T21:07:00.000-06:00

[Part 1|Part 2|Part 3| Part 4]I went back to the grocery store and bought the one pressure cooker they had on the shelves. This 3-litre Vinod ('fun size' candy bar included for scale) is imported from India. And it does whistle periodically.How often?I'm not telling.Yet.I'll be collecting data. This is your chance to make suggestions about the methodology.If I die under mysterious

of glasses and whistles

2006-10-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

[Part 1|Part 2|Part 3| Part 4]The pressure cooker is a marvelous invention, enabling the preparation of food that tastes as though it took a long time to cook, when it actually did not. This is why it's one of the secret weapons in Indian cuisine. (How else could one have time to make something starting with hard chickpeas or lentils?) With so many single parents and otherwise-busy people in

rock-n-roll nerd

2006-10-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

Meet Tim Minchin. His song speaks to me. Maybe a little too deeply.Thanks goes to Mark, my brother-in-law, for the link.

Mwahahahaha!

2006-09-28T19:47:00.000-05:00

On the left is my temporary machine, a hand-me-down dual-core G5 that really belongs to the team of graphical and user-interface geniuses. In the box on the right, which just arrived this afternoon, is a shiny new 2.66Ghz quad-core Mac Pro -- my permanent machine.I have no choice now but to make myself worthy of such a fine tool. I can't wait to set it up.Machines have come a long way since the

the new commute

2006-09-28T07:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday after work the streets were wet from rain on the way home. It was a very pleasant ride up sumner. I threw my amp & axe into the trunk and went to go jam with Mark & Al.The fingers were a bit stiff from not being forcibly disciplined by the bus commute, but at the same time they were doing some things that I didn't think myself capable of. This was my first jam since I filed for

lincoln arts festival

2006-09-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

I spent some time checking out the wares at the Lincoln Arts Festival this weekend. There were also two corners allocated for live musicians. The group pictured had a classical guitarist ripping through some classics like Beethoven's Für Elise and Mozart's Minuet in G, all nicely accompanied by a couple of bowed instruments. It was especially cool to watch him play these two songs because I

health hazard

2006-09-21T18:52:00.000-05:00

This is the building where I work -- up on the seventh floor, partially cut off in the picture.This building is part of the Cornhusker Marriott, connected to the building on the left at the ground level. This is important because I discovered a health hazard there: a little shop where one can buy a latte and a LaMar's donut.As anyone with taste for such things knows, a LaMar's donut is the most

bike inside

2006-09-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

I've noticed something about my new commute.The old commute (from 77th & A on up to 84th & Adams) leaves one with the impression that not very many people commute on their bicycles. I say this because seeing someone on a bike is a noteable event along that route.My new commute leads me down to 13th & M. Even on days that I'm starting to consider a little nippy there are scads of people on bikes

ok, that rocked

2006-09-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

Day one of the new job was really cool: pedal downtown, meet & greet the people I'll be working with, fill out the standard paperwork, and get thrown straight into code with a tight deadline attached. No wading around by the water's edge.I'm working at Nanonation, which is a real technology company specializing in media-rich technology. Their initial market was kiosks, and they branched out

reunion

2006-09-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

On day two of the four-day-weekend between jobs I got together with six old members of the original g team, as it existed prior to the move to Omaha. We spent a few hours hanging around in the Haymarket. It was a fun blast from the past to be with them. On the way home I stopped by Cycle Works to buy a lid for the noggin.

buzzword onboard

2006-09-13T09:26:00.000-05:00

It's amazing to me how new idioms can appear suddenly.Maybe it's just the way that buzzword memes propagate, and that some epidemiological model could explain why something you've never heard before suddenly appears multiple times in the same day.Or maybe it's a matter of awareness: perhaps one suddenly becomes cognizant of something that was always around them, and it only seems to be

morning TT

2006-09-12T10:35:00.000-05:00

The new bus departs 15 minutes earlier than the Limbusine I used to ride. I've been leaving the house at the same time, pushing myself harder to compensate. It takes a lot more conscious effort to make myself breathe hard (and my heart pound) than it did a few months ago.Fear of missing the bus is a good motivator.Mornings have become chilly, and the air has been full of moisture. Yesterday

language invention

2006-09-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

Today I gave a small talk about some of the most interesting work that we were able to do over the years at my current job, or at least a subset of it.The best times were when real computer science principles were put into practice. The pinnacle of that, in my mind, was the invention of a small expression language, replete with constants, variables, mathematical operators, comparators, string

granola recipe

2006-09-04T13:31:00.000-05:00

I mentioned making granola before. My friend Sheryl gets credit for the umpteenth request for the recipe, which motivated me to post. The recipe itself came from a magazine insert in the newspaper one Sunday, and thank google I don't have to type it in: there is an online edition.The ratios in this recipe are forgiving. Play with it.The recipe calls for wheat germ. You can replace this with

david bowman model of life

2006-09-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

One minute you're out in deep space just doing your job, the next it's "Open the pod bay doors, HAL." Before you know it, you're firing explosive bolts and yanking optical modules to the tune of "Daisy, Daisy".Then "OMFG it's full of stars" and you're whooshing down a wormhole to an eerily-lit bedroom where you see yourself as an elderly man eating blue food in his jammies. You chill in earth

state fair midway 2006

2006-08-31T23:10:00.000-05:00

After the nebraska fish exhibit and the fake tattoo, we took a ride on the Skywheel, which was quite a thrill. After the pic was taken the ride kicked into high gear and I immediately regretted having taken the camera-phone out of my pocket. I so badly wanted to be able to hold on to the bar with two hands.

the back patio

2006-08-31T16:01:00.000-05:00

After the bus drops me off at work, I often go through the cafeteria to get a second morning coffee, and take that out to the back patio, which looks over the mighty Missouri river.The view downstream is where they are building a new Pedestrian Bridge to connect Nebraska and Iowa.It will be fun to pedal over that at least once.I'm told that eventually this will connect some paths in a way that

one book, one lincoln

2006-08-29T16:15:00.000-05:00

I'm going to do something out of the ordinary here, and ask that you email a link to this story to anyone you know who lives in Lincoln and likes to read. Please, copy this link and paste it into an email so that they can become aware of this year's One Book, One Lincoln.(If you want, make the subject line something like "get a load of this pretentious, self-promoting wanker!")Although One Book

end of an era

2006-08-29T11:04:00.000-05:00

The old ride is gone. Its replacement is in its second week of operation. So far I have ridden it once: yesterday, my return to work after a one-week hiatus.The new bus is clean and modern. There are overhead luggage compartments, and each seat has vectorable air nozzles and reading lights, just like those you see on passenger aircraft.Every seat faces forward, so now I can sit anywhere on the

opportunity to learn

2006-08-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

I took a long morning ride exploring the trails that Lincoln has to offer. I have an overdeveloped tendency to always follow the same path, so today my rule was to turn down every branch of trail that I had never seen before. Many of them were dendrites feeding the main system, but one path took me to the World Trail, which is beautiful. Sections of it looked like Dagobah -- so lush, green,

taking sente

2006-08-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

There are not many games that appeal to me. Of course this was different in the past, but over time my interest in each one diminished or disappeared entirely. Go was an exception.This game has appeal on many levels. There is a simplicity of design both to the equipment and the rules. The stones are cool to the touch, and (depending on the quality of the board) make a satisfying twack or

i ate this today

2006-08-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Gravy Day, as mentioned before, happens every Thursday. The meal on this day of the week always includes gravy -- even the breakfast menu, which features biscuits drenched in sausage gravy. I can only think of one occasion in the last three years where gravy appeared on some other day of the week, and it caused quite a buzz among my associates. Did someone make a mistake? Are heads gonna roll

mis pantalones son pequeños

2006-08-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

So as not to miss a chance to extol the virtues of bicycle commuting, I have to announce the arrival of the second (and final) wave of downsizing.Here are three pairs of 32-inch waist Dickies pour moi. They're cell-phone-pocket pants again, but I figure I've already learned my lesson.Not since my first semester at college have such things made it around my midsection. That would be autumn 1986.

Grisha Perelman, where are you?

2006-08-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

Mathematicians are awesome.How cool is it to pop up out of nowhere, offer a proof of the Poincaré conjecture, then duck out of sight while everybody else slowly comes to realize that your proof is valid? Read about this disappearing genius here in the New York Times.(And I thought the proof from Andrew Wiles of Fermat's Last Theorem had a dramatic story behind it.)Note: the illustration with

malpractice makes malperfect

2006-08-10T08:58:00.000-05:00

I've been concentrating my attention on my use of clipless pedals when I'm riding. It has been difficult but fun to unlearn the pedaling habits that I had established from riding flat pedals for a long time.My main focus has been on ensuring that I'm applying smooth muscular pressure at every point around the arc, with specific attention to the back half of the circle: pulling back, pulling up,

wwdc 2006

2006-08-09T18:58:00.000-05:00

I've never been to WWDC, but I've looked forward to the news that comes out of it ever since 1996, when NeXT bought Apple for a negative four hundred million dollars, thereby obtaining a suitable replacement for the computer hardware production unit that NeXT sold back in 1993 and a loyal customer base for future versions of the NeXTStep operating system: re-skinned, re-branded, and

yellow door

2006-08-09T13:20:00.000-05:00

When the bus drops me off at work in the morning, the driver always fails to hand over the keys. This leaves me in the building until the bus returns in the afternoon.For lunch there is a cafeteria at work, which would be great for anybody who relished school lunches as a child. There is a regimented schedule of dishes that cycles like clockwork. For example, Thursday is "gravy day", where

life of pi

2006-08-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my big accomplishments were...finished reading Crow Lake, one day latestarted reading the next book, Life of Pirallied the young troops to clean house a bitdid my upper-body workoutmade another batch of granola with the tropical flavorings that syd enjoyspulled the dishwasher door off its hinges, incurring household costs I fear calculatingI'm trying to get my mind off of that last one.

Granola À gogo

2006-08-05T18:02:00.000-05:00

Today I needed to finish Crow Lake for my reading group, which meets tonight. I didn't quite make it to the end, but that won't deter me from going to face the gang. I tried; I really tried. A couple of beers and some engaging conversation will help me feel allright about it.On the bright side, I did manage to make a double-batch of granola, which should keep my morning routine efficient...

WeAreTheWeb.org

2006-08-02T07:59:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm the last person on the planet who has seen this, but I don't think it matters. This is a far more brilliant PR campaign than I had hoped that those who care about net neutrality could muster. Way to go, folks. Everybody who has a blog should post a story linking to it. Yeah, it's an annoying Flash site, but I got over my bias for this one.

Drive

2006-08-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was told that before I can start my career as a rock star I would have to get at least one visible tattoo. That's probably true. At the tender young age of 38, I still have yet to go through the painful ink-and-needle rite of passage. Not having been ceremonially introduced to manhood in this way, one might think that my adolescent guitar-god fantasies would still be lingering

When it's time to relax...

2006-07-29T08:14:00.000-05:00

What to do on a Friday evening? Get more miles, of course. Adrian & Kim went with Syd, Erik & myself out to the pub in Eagle for some food and some guilt-free empty calories. (This was especially nice since most of the miles I put in are solo.) On the way back the night was alive with insect song, the stars were clearly visible, and there was a beautiful orange crescent-moon hanging where

l'équipement

2006-07-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

At a little after 7am, with the bike locked, I begin the ritual of settling in for practice. The bike commute is something I've only been doing since late April. The guitar practice is something that I've been doing for three years, and the steps are fast and automatic. I've been trying to do it the same way every time, since there are a lot of pieces to manage and I want to maximize my

Podunk Commute Chronicles

2006-07-27T09:38:00.000-05:00

I sometimes envy bike commuters whose destinations are in town.While there's something cool about a multi-modal commute (it makes me feel a bit like the people I saw bringing their bikes onboard the BART trains in San Francisco) it has one huge drawback in my case. If I worked in Lincoln and some minor glitch in the morning ritual put me 15 minutes behind schedule, then I would just be 15

Bow Chicka Bow Wow

2006-07-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

The Love Bus...Exciting and new...come aboard...we're expecting you...I've been riding this thing for three years now, and it still seems like another world: plush vinyl couches along the sides, dark shades on the windows, huge flat-panel television on the back wall framed on either side by columns of bubbling liquid (lit by a rotating color wheel), high-powered receiver/amplifier, subwoofer, DVD

Criterium Race

2006-07-23T19:43:00.000-05:00

I got another fun opportunity to practice my camera phone skills. It's a constraining tool for action photography, but it's a good exercise. Click on the picture to see the full set. Check out the racing results on Nebraska Cycling News. Syd's reaction to the event can be found on her blog.