Wednesday July 02, 2008 Wordle
Finally got around to trying out Wordle.
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.
I of course gave it my blog as input. I let it just pick the colors, layout etc. I was rather surprised at some of the words. I don't think I've even written "Titarenko's" before. Let alone enough to make it appear on the cloud.
Hmmmn.
( Jul 02 2008, 05:29:23 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [2]
Tuesday July 01, 2008 Blinky Bugs
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We finally got around to making the blinky bugs that we bought at the Maker Faire earlier this year. |
For anybody who dabbles in electronics and making things, you've probably got all the parts you need to build one of these, so all you need are the instructions, and they are online.
There are parts to make four bugs in the kit. For the first one, we carefully read the instructions and slowly and methodically built the bug. A small note to others. The little pieces of copper pipe bend just once. If you think you've bent it wrong, don't bend it again. It just snaps. Trying to remove the broken bent pipe from the antenna wire leaves you with antenna wire that is no longer straight and looks like a clock spring. This happened to us. It's why we currently have just three completed bugs. It would have been nice if they'd included a spare piece of copper pipe in the kit. Luckily I have a bag of various sizes and shapes from K & S Engineering
After the first bug was completed, the next two were easy. It can be frustrating to get the antenna wires "just right" so that the lights aren't on all the time, and only blink when you touch them.
I think Duncan enjoyed making them more than playing with the end result. They are really for younger kids.
( Jul 01 2008, 09:07:04 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [0]
Monday June 30, 2008 Links for 30th June 2008
- How We Read Online
Lots of good observations. The ones that make me wonder about the usefulness of a web page to me are:
- Does it initially come up with readable text, or do I have
to press Control-and-Plus a couple of times? Ironically
this Slate.com page fails that test with Firefox on my
Ubuntu system.
- How many annoying flashy ads does the page contain? You know
the type. "YOU ARE A WINNER!!!!!!" strobing away, no doubt
causing epileptic fits in a very small percentage of the population.
- How many of those stupid double underlined links does the page have, that pop up a mini window right over the text I was trying to read?
- Does it initially come up with readable text, or do I have
to press Control-and-Plus a couple of times? Ironically
this Slate.com page fails that test with Firefox on my
Ubuntu system.
- Alexey Titarenko's "City of Shadows"
I found some of the smoky ones quite chilling. Better increase my Prozac dosage.
(via Makezine).
- ZZ Top - Crossroads Guitar Festival
I know, I'm showing my age, but if you do like their music (and for me that's before they went commercial in the 80's), then you might like to know that there is a new ZZ Top Live DVD out.
A couple observations from this YouTube video. (Notice how I use another bulleted list to get you to keep reading):
- Dusty Hill has large feet (or he likes wearing clown shoes).
- You can get whiplash from your beard. Perhaps they should have tied those suckers down or at least weighted them, although I suspect you could take an eye out with the latter.
- Dusty Hill has large feet (or he likes wearing clown shoes).
( Jun 30 2008, 09:03:08 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [0]
Wednesday June 25, 2008 Bill's Experience Installing Moviemaker On Windows
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An email from 2003 from Chairman Bill on the problems he had installing Moviemaker on his Windows system. |
My favorite bit is:
"Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?"
Ahh! Windows.
(thanks Maya).
( Jun 25 2008, 11:42:08 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [2]
Links for 25th June 2008
- Tribute To George Carlin
There are a lot of similar link out there. Yeah, I'm a couple day late. As I've mentioned before, I didn't enjoy everything he did, but you can't get away from the fact that he changed the face of comedy. Whether always for good or bad is hard to tell.
- Virgin's Data Visualization web page
Personally I'm not sure how particularly useful (or easy) their site is, to actually understand their data.
Representing large data sets in a visually easy-to-use intuitive manner is hard. There are probably a few PhD dissertations on this still to be written.
- Algorithm Geeks
Need a particular algorithm and can't work out how to do it, or find it when you go a-googling? Well here's your chance to elicit the help of lots of alpha-geeks.
I wonder how long it'll be before somebody comes up with the idea to take the "best of" from this group, and put it all together in a book...
(via Hackszine).
( Jun 25 2008, 08:38:47 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [0]
Tuesday June 24, 2008 The Stalled Server Room
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The Daily WTF has an interesting post today. A company had to relocate from the second to the first floor in their building. Unfortunately their server room couldn't be moved. |
Here's the letter from building management explaining the situation:
Hi all.
As you all are aware, we have new tenants that have moved into the 2nd floor suites. The access to the server room is now via the women’s bathroom.
There will be a sign on the woman’s door that can be changed from OPEN to CLOSED and vice versa.
Should you need to enter the server room, please change the sign to CLOSED. Once you are done, please change it back to OPEN.
Once you enter the bathroom, you will be able to access the server room via the handicapped stall. Please close the stall door prior to entry, just in case someone doesn’t see that the bathroom is closed.
I know this isn’t ideal, but if we adhere to this protocol, I don’t think anyone will be disrupted.
Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions.
I have one. Do the AAPD know about this? If they don't, they will soon.
[Technorati Tag: Accessibility]
( Jun 24 2008, 07:03:00 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [3]
Monday June 23, 2008 Don't Talk To The Police
Links to these two video's came over Hack a Day recently. They are U.S. centric, but well worth watching.
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Firstly, Professor James Duane:
"In Praise of the Fifth Amendment Right to Not Be a Witness Against Yourself. |
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Secondly, Officer George Bruch, Virginia Beach Police Department:
"The Other Side of the Story." |
[Technorati Tag: Social Enginnering]
( Jun 23 2008, 11:13:49 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [1]
Wednesday June 18, 2008 Spore Creature Creator
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Spore is one of the most anticipated games of the year. While we all wait for that to happen, Electronic Arts have released their Spore Creature Creator, including a trial version. |
I didn't R the FM and just naïvely downloaded the Mac version onto Duncan's iBook, only to find it's just for the Intel architecture. I then tried the PC version on two oldish Windows Xp machines, only to find that we didn't have good enough graphics cards.
Luckily it works nicely on the wife's MacBook, and Duncan is having a blast creating some monsters. An intuitive UI with great graphics and sounds.
Check out the video:
I guess I know what he'll be wanting for his birthday (or just after).
( Jun 18 2008, 07:14:26 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [1]
Tuesday June 17, 2008 Links for 17th June 2008
The Trons - Self Playing Robot Band
If my manager ever decides to leave the Megatones, it's clear that he can easily be replaced.
(via Make Blog).
My first thought here, was great, so keying is no longer a problem. Vandals can just slash your car at the same time as they are slashing your tyres. Or if you ruin the skin on your own car, ten minutes work with a good knife will get you somebody elses just like it.
An annoying presenter (it reminded me of that Red Dwarf episode where Rimmer was turning into a peacenik), with an interesting concept, but it's needs more work before it can becomes a good product.
(via Make Blog).
(via Make Blog).
( Jun 17 2008, 12:32:46 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink
Monday June 16, 2008 Moog Guitar
(As reported over on Geek.com).
This looks fascinating. The company that gave you Moog synthesizers in the '70's, have now created a Moog Guitar:
It has five different sound modes, designed to give the player a wide range of possibilities to play. The most touted mode is the infinite sustain, which allows players to hold a note on every note and at every position.Other modes include controlled sustain, mute mode, harmonic blends, and the Moog Filter.
Check out the video. Maybe I'm just showing my age (or personal preference in music), but I'd have liked to have have seen what Carlos Santana or David Gilmour could have done with it, rather than Lou Reed. Or maybe they just tried it out on artists in New York.
( Jun 16 2008, 08:07:10 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [2]
Sunday June 15, 2008 Create Your Own O'Reilly Book Covers
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Yesterday, I stumbled across the O'Reilly book cover maker web site and thought I'd have a go. |
A long long time ago, in a land far far away (and before I joined Sun if you were wondering), I had a manager I did not get on with. I'm sure the feeling was reciprocated. When it came time for my yearly review, the draft copy contained the phrase, "does not suffer fools gladly". "Ah," I replied, "so you admit they are fools then?" I was glared at, but I did notice that the final version used a different wording.
When you are in a situation like that, I've always found it best to move on, but in tribute to that manager, I present my sample O'Reilly cover. Click on it to see a larger version. I would have liked to have made the title "Suffering Fools Gladly", but it wasn't smart enough to reduce the font size so it all still nicely fit.
Hopefully that manager has retired by now, and is no longer inflicting their managerial skills (or lack thereof) on poor suffering employees.
( Jun 15 2008, 09:35:33 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [1]
Friday June 13, 2008 Not All DVI Cables Are Created Equal
Earlier in the week, I downloaded the Big Buck Bunny movie onto my wife's new MacBook. We wanted to try the new mini-DVI to DVI adapter cable that we'd bought (via the online Apple store), to hook it up to our TV and watch it on the "big screen".
Wasn't I miffed to find that the female DVI plug on the end of the adapter cable wouldn't connect to the male DVI plug on the end of the cable coming out of the TV. From the blurred pictures above, you can just see that the male DVI cable (first picture) has some extra pins above and below the "bar" pin and the female plug (second picture) doesn't have matching holes for them to go into.
Luckily that cable out of the TV nicely works with the DVI external monitor plug (third picture) on my Powerbook, but we ended up watching a lower-res version of the movie (not that big a deal).
So I have a multiple choice question:
Question: Why didn't this work?
Answer:
- That's a really old cable you've got there (you idiot). The DVI
standard nowadays doesn't have those extra pins around the "bar"
pin on male plugs.
- That's a bad design for the mini-DVI to DVI cable Apple (you idiots).
Didn't you realize that there are male cables out there with pins
on either side of the "bar" pin?
- In order to get this to work with your existing cable, you are
(somehow) going to need to remove those two pins around the "bar"
pin.
- All of the above.
- None of the above.
If the answer is 3 or 4, how can I easily remove those bogus pins? Or should I just go out and buy yet another new cable?
Correct answers very much appreciated.
( Jun 13 2008, 09:50:59 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [16]
Thursday June 12, 2008 Recently Read - 12th June 2008
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Here's a list of the books I've recently read, with an Amazon-style star rating and a few comments. |
- The Best Man To Die - Ruth Rendell
Another Chief Inspector Wexford novel. Not here best. - Fables of Aesop - Trans: S. A. Handford
I never read these when I was a kid. I wish I had. Some good lessons to live by, though they got a tad repetitious near the end. Too many variations on a theme. - Florence of Arabia - Christopher Buckley
- No Way To Treat A First Lady - Christopher Buckley
One more to go, then I've read all of Buckley's novels so far. Great political satire. I particularly enjoyed No Way..., the "Trial of the Millenium":"There are few spectacles more pathetic than a roomful of otherwise responsible people trying to squirm out of a civic duty enshrined in Magna Carta as one of the signal boons of democracy. On the other hand, who in their right mind wants to serve on a jury?"
One of the best aspects of his novels is the names he uses. Also lots of pot slots at Clinton, O.J. and numerous others.
Three more from the Salon.com list:
- The Street Lawyer - John Grisham
My first Grisham novel. There was no doubt that it was a page-turner, but I don't think I'll be reading another of his for a while. There are too many other new authors I want to try first. - Story of my Life - Jay McInerney
More white punks on dope. Very funny in places but it was hard to give a damn about any of the characters. - Moonraker - Ian Fleming
The books are nothing like the films. The plots are simpler (and in this case dated - it was written in 1955). Bond gets hurt a lot more and doesn't always get the girl at the end. For this one, I actually watched the film (with Roger Moore) after I'd finished the book, just to see what, if anything, was the same. Virtually nothing. The villians name, and an oblique reference by M to having played bridge against Drax.The film does have that classic innuendo from Q at the end though, which partly makes up for the rest of it.
And finally four more books of famous plays:
- Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams
The original film version of this is superb. - After The Fall - Arthur Miller
I've never seen it, but this play must have been a bitch to put on in a theater, in it's original form. Of course, you can always just totally change it. - The Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw
The book also provides notes on the meaning of the more obscure words and phrases, plus a "what happens next" section.It looks like there's going to be a remake of My Fair Lady, the musical version of this play, and guess who is rumored to be wanting to play Eliza?
- The Comedy of Neil Simon - Neil Simon
Seven of his plays. I loved The Star-Spangled Girl. Laugh out loud funny. It was also good to read the original play of The Odd Couple (as opposed to the TV series), and confirm that it would be impossible for a slob and a neat-freak to continue living together in harmony.
( Jun 12 2008, 04:59:24 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink
Wednesday June 11, 2008 eeeBook Reader
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After deciding that the Amazon Kindle wasn't for me, and thinking that I could do the same thing with an Asus Eee PC, I've now had a chance to try it out. Apologies for the poor quality of the picture. My arms aren't long enough to take a better one. |
I install acroread, rather than use Evince as the latter still has problems with several PDF files I've tried. I put a sample book on my SD card, plugged it in and displayed the PDF file, rotating the document 90 degrees clockwise and putting it into full screen mode.
It works well. The Eee is only two pounds in weight (lighter than the hardback I'm currently reading). I can click on the left "mouse" button to get to the next page, so "reading' is not to unnatural. After a while you do start to hear the little fan but it's not that loud.
I'll also be able to do a similar thing with FBReader for some of my other eBooks that are not in PDF format.
I realize that I won't have quite the ease-of-download that the Kindle provides, but I'll sure be able to do a lot of other things with my Eee besides just reading eBooks.
If you are wondering what the book is, it's called 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life. The basic premise is "don't worry, be happy". It made a nice change from all the depressing AARP literature that's been filling up my mail box recently.
( Jun 11 2008, 09:14:40 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [6]
Monday June 09, 2008 Eee PC With Ubuntu And Orca
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I got an Eee PC for my birthday; one of those with 1GB on memory and 8GB of "solid state" disk. I played around with the kiosk-mode Linux that came with it. I know you can fairly easily get out of that mode, but as I really didn't want to learn yet another version of Linux, I decided to install Ubuntu Hardy on it. |
I upgraded my previous created Ubuntu Gutsy bootable thumb drive to contain Hardy. These instructions helped out (thanks Ryan). I did the:
$ sudo lilo -M /dev/sdd
at the end just to be safe.
There's still some problems:
- Battery Monitor: "Battery may be broken: Your battery has a very low capacity (1%) which ..."
- Wireless connection not working.
- Microphone not working.
- SD card reader not working.
- Webcam not working.
but I'll leave them for another day. Hopefully this page should be a great help in fixing some of them.
For now, I've just hooked up the Eee to an external monitor, USB keyboard and mouse. I'm using a wired network connection and I've plugged in a nice set of speakers. I've also installed all the updates from the network repositories to get this up to GNOME 2.22.2.
I followed the Orca setup instructions and installed the nice Cepstral Callie voice, and voila! I have Orca running on yet another computer.
The potential here is that it's running on such a nice small portable machine though.
( Jun 09 2008, 01:25:25 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [6]
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