Today, I was led down a path that took me to a wonderful essay, “Hackers and Painters”, by Paul Graham - http://www.paulgraham.co…
The family just watched “Grandpa Carl’s Flying House”… well, that’s what the Japanese call it. We call it “Up”.
doctorow M Pilgrim: how it feels to see the corp that created a generation of tinkerers turn its back on modifiability http://tinyurl.com/y9jwx…
Explored the local roads while the sun was still out. Main roads are clean/dry. Neighborhood roads slushy now, will freeze later. #snow
Wow, I’ve blown the last 24 hours setting up a new mail server… and sleeping, of course. #nerd #snow day.
Put on an old winter coat for playing in the snow, found a forgotten chemical hand warmer in the pocket. Boil to charge, snap to discharge.
To ??answer?? my own question: it appears to be a measure of “chunkiness”, as in “won’t look right if printed bigger than 72 DPI”.
photo people: I don’t understand when computer apps say my picture is 72dpi. Unless it is printed, how can you measure dpi?
@JohnCleese well, THAT was under-whelming
@pwbrewer “inherent benefit to only doing one thing at a time: the load of worrying about other tasks is lifted” - or I need to buy 2 ipads!
@mikbre snowing in CLT yet? looks like the winds are blowing rigiht down I-85, headed to RDU
Privacy? What happens on the web… STAYS on the web.
@gillijp If you loved your work, then Fridays would be a bit of a let-down.
I have my children trained well. They turn off my alarm clock for me!
The dog is snoring.
On the way home from work, a fox ran across the road, right across the street from my office! He must work 2nd shift at Lenovo.
RT @dsearls “There’s more reason to be afraid of heights than of widths. … http://is.gd/7ckdj”
From @npralltech: The iPad: Just One More Gadget To Lug Around http://su.pr/1Np52c <- don’t forget the bag of adaptors & accessories!
RT @davewiner “all that remains of Apple’s brilliance is Apple’s arrogance” - Ouch!
RT @GadgetLab “Company Offers Free Robots for Open Source Developers http://bit.ly/7bDR6f” <- some non-Apple hardware news, for a change
@SecretHQTweets It’s funny… until you tell us that it’s in Outlook… then it turns to sad.
The word of the day seems to be “unicorn”.
Funny how none of the ipad photos show a hand, for a sense of scale.
SIMOROBO I hope they make a pocket version of the Apple tablet and it allows me to make calls with it. That would be useful!
@anjibee Nice way to drop a hint… I guess we need to go shopping.
My tired old HP laptop blows hot air out of the right side. It blows onto my mouse hand… feels good in the winter.
@pwbrewer I’m still munching my way through my kids’ Halloween candy!
ginatrapani Don’t care about a tablet per se, but can’t wait to see how Apple innovates. Prefer openness to AAPL’s approach, but they do deliver beauty.
RT @Techmeme “Google releases new Google Voice for iPhone … http://bit.ly/4UONo8” / not a native app, but a nicer web app
@gillijp I am your husband’s evil twin… or maybe he is mine.
I uploaded a new 1.0 version of my “Tipster” iPhone app to iTunes. I wonder how long it will take Apple to approve it?
@5x5 My computer sends me an email when it powers on (so I know the power blinked). Check it via phone. No need for power co app. #oldschool
It’s not a purse… it’s a “man bag”. Hey… I don’t have pockets!
And so it begins… tax season… sigh…
“Forever” stamps, for the win. Because I don’t know (or care) how much first class postage costs.
@bobbyllew wondering after my 1st ride in a Prius on a cold day… how does your all-electric car heat the cabin? efficient? #coldtoes
New to Android? Embedded.com has a nice article that lays out the basic structure & terminology. - http://www.embedded.com/…
Geeking out at the #tridroid Triangle Android meetup. Thanks to Google for hosting, and to Apex for the pizza!
excellent article, explains common web exploits -> Web Security: Are You Part Of The Problem? http://bit.ly/8Aj0TQ
@alanjporter You have cars on the brain!
It looks like the tooth fairy will be visiting our house tonight!
@nprnews no need to apologize… twitter has a “delete” button so you can delete and re-tweet
mtdukes Bill Gates joins Twitter. Twitter crashes. Coincidence?
I suspect my wife’s camera (Nikon L20) does not have an orientation sensor. I think it “guesses” by looking at the picture. #fail
Share in the Innovation at Mini ProductCamp RTP - http://barcamp.org/Produ… - January 28, 2010 at the Cambria Suites at RDU Airport
@alanjporter That’s a TTY number.
I just used a “zip thru” debit card to buy a soft drink from a vending machine. It gave me my drink… and then it spit out change!
@mattfrye I bought new nerd glasses in China without insurance for $13… but then again, I spent $1000 on airfare.
Our family now has our own private wiki. First item published: next year’s Christmas wish lists! #nerds
Orange County (Chapel Hill NC) schools need volunteers to be judges for FIRST Lego League competition Feb 6th. Interested?
@nerdist recommendations? sure. use “clang” to check for memory leaks… oh, you mean you LOOKING for an iphone developer! that’s different!
Listening to co-worker on the phone, calmly speaking clear instructions to a voice recognition system on the phone: “speak to operator”.
Some claim that Thomas Crapper patented the flush toilet on this day in 1861. Others say that’s a load of crap. #snopes #crapper
My 7yo just wrote a python program to print out a multiplication table! (Last year, her sister did it using BASIC). #geekdad
@Sheamus Gotta hate that weak single. And that iphone spell-correction…
Following a mystery: “sit or squat” iphone app shows a “public restroom” in a residential neighborhood, right next door to a guy I know.
Greylisting (on a mail server) is a great tool to cut down on spam, but it sure gets in the way sometimes. Made a script to turn it on/off.
mashable German Government: Stop Using Internet Explorer - http://bit.ly/5JzRZ3
@amessyroom doah!
@redbox Wish the iphone app (and the web page) showed my reservations, just so I could confirm that they went in OK.
@zefrank You also need a non-itunes link that promotes your app on a traditional HTML-ish page, for PC’s w/o itunes (like at $WORK).
Always amused by tea pitchers labeled “sweet” and “unsweet”. How is tea un-sweetened?
Showed my kids pics of Haiti, asked if they wanted to help, I promised to match 5-to-1, they coughed up $5 and $15 for http://redcross.org !
Hanging out with the “Triangle Mobile App All-Stars” in downtown Raleigh.
reminder: Triangle Linux Users Group, tonight 7pm - http://trilug.org
LinkedIn is like FaceBook… without the fun.
Note to self - see how much damage I can do to my home server by upgrading bootloader to grub2 - https://help.ubuntu.com/…
@ginatrapani Interesting how the article mentions people by Twitter handle first, with real names in parens. Like ham radio callsigns, ugh.
It took some tweaking, but I now have a DAViCal calendar server running. Now, work PC & home laptop & iphone can all use the same calendars.
@alanjporter You should take some meds and try to go. I missed IgniteRaleigh and regretted it later.
@dsearls - I think @newlywedsontjob have a better record-keeping scheme than @bedpost.
@levarburton note, you’ll start getting daily texts from mgive, might want to read the fine print at http://www.mgive.com/Par…
@mikbre I have heard that iphone calendar has some quirks, works with google caldav, but not others. I am hoping a server update will “fix”.
@bobbyllew I know that you are “rubbish at maths”, but that would be a six hour trip!
@mikbre I wish the iphone supported read/write caldav… I just installed a caldav calendar server and it’s read-only :-(
@nivex Suggestions? Quit cold turkey. This whole internet thing is a fad, anyway.
@bobbyllew After electrification, it will be easier to explain “motor vs engine” to kids. “Motor vehicles” will be just that.
@inside919 - twitter follower @rockhopper decides that your machine-generated twitter feed has a very low signal-to-noise ratio
Sheamus Why I believe printers were sent from hell. http://bit.ly/4qteYg
@NCsalamander I think you stepped in some ink.
@ypwhirlwind I am sure that it will be magical… I can’t wait for Groundhog Day.
@ypwhirlwind ur doing it wrong :-)
Transferred my wife’s address book from her Palm Zire to her iPod Touch. Easy peasy: Palm desktop, export as vcard, email to her, import.
Schneier talks about “underpants of mass destruction” (http://bit.ly/53LoLF) Next: TSA to be replaced by “Fart Police” from Wimpy Kid books.
Remembering the $HOME/.plan files and the “finger” command that we used on unix systems in ~1990. It was like Twitter’s great grand-pappy.
@dsearls By the way, you might like http://www.sitorsquat.com , sponsored by Charmin, for locating and reporting restrooms: web, iphone, bb
@dsearls do I have to “check in” whenever I pee? #toomuchinfo
@doctorow Unlike sent emails, a posted tweet can be deleted, like when your Hugo link got mangled. (Thanks for the cool links, BTW).
Note to self: the tea cooker takes a LOT longer when that little switch is pointed to the “0”. Apparently, “1” mode is much faster.
Twitter did it right. You can change your user name at any time (the hard part, of course, is finding an unclaimed name).
Uh oh, both daughters (ages 7 & 8) now have twitter accounts.
My daughter has two “odyssey of the mind” practices this weekend. And both of them end just as “a prairie home companion” comes on @wunc. ?!
Momma is playing “miss miss revenge”.
Listening to Dick Gordon’s “The Story” about the Great Depression with daughter #1, sorting pennies by dates 1941-1974 with #2.
@alanjporter You might like “A Stick Figure Guide to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)” - http://bit.ly/168e5j
Spent the morning being the “room parent” at Chinese school. That means I make copies, serve snacks, then go hide & watch video podcasts.
@pwbrewer hey, ring your own bell… even if it IS a taco bell (groan)
The best part about Thunderbird’s “favorite folders” is what it does with “non-favorites”… it IGNORES them.
@scenek Depending on which meeting you’re attending, it might not be that lucky.
Yup, it’s that time of the month… time to reboot.
Proud papa: my 8yo daughter wrote a one-page paper in Chinese, describing our New Year celebration at First Night Raleigh.
@pwbrewer ding ding ding, that’s a winner
Cars broken into at my office. :-( Hundreds of $$ in window damage to steal a crappy $100 GPS.
Good advice: do not store your actual home address in your car GPS. Theives can steal your GPS and garage door opener and break in ur home.
I wonder where I could find a transcript of Ballmer’s CES keynote. All I can find are blog transcripts (and links to latestantyvirus.com).
@frijole if I could run iTunes on Linux, I would not have that problem (I might have *other* problems, but…)
iTunes really could use a plain web interface, instead of trying to launch the iTunes app every time (for PC’s w/o iTunes installed)
What’s up with @nprnews? Some tweets try to mash together two unrelated headlines. Many other headlines are tweeted twice, tweeted twice.
@jbroome congrats! your life will never be the same
Only five more space shuttle missions remain… sure would be nice to see a launch in 2010. Space.com link -> http://bit.ly/J2Spb
@pwbrewer If you have not read it, be sure to follow the link from that @HubSpot article to the no-nonsense NetFlix policies.
New to me: QR Codes, 2D bar codes that contain URL’s or any other blob of text. Seems simultaneously useful and frivolous.
Google Chrome issue resolved - loaded Firefox java plugin, restarted Chrome, suddenly works again. Huh?
Google Chrome (for Linux) wasn’t saving TiddlyWiki files. Looked like a java/TiddlySaver issue, would not load http://www.javatester.org
I keep switching my old HP laptop back and forth between Debian and Ubuntu. Tonight, it’s back to Debian 5.0 “Lenny”.
The bunk beds are really great… but they sure are hard to put sheets on!
@SecretHQTweets How about Tiddlywiki? It’s a wiki written in Javascript, contained in a single self-modifying HTML file. I can help w/ Q&A.
Tonight: Triangle Amateur Robotics club meeting, 7pm at Tech Shop in Durham (map at http://www.techshopdurha…)
@frijole Didn’t mean to sound serious. I have enjoyed the tweets you did share with everyone up until now, and I hope they continue.
@frijole Thanks for remembering the little people like me who were denied access to your new party. I’ll just sit here & pretend I’m cool.
@frijole So much for the “plus” treatment in 2010.
Installed “gallery2” on my web server, finally published pictures from our October trip to Malaysia. - http://AlanPorter.com/ga…
Now, am I ready to have ä¸æ–‡ song titles on my ipod? I guess so. On the physical CD, I just look at the album art. - I might learn something!
Chinese CD experiment: try 4 random CD’s, iTunes correctly found titles for 3 (the 4th was a collection of hits, various artists). #sweet
New blog post: 2009, a year of trying “new things†online - http://blog.alanporter.c…
Having Borneo-style “laksa” with Malaysian friends. Yummy. (Somebody get me a fire extinguisher).
Wondering what to do with Chinese CD’s. Need Chinese CDDB. Should I use pinyin or unicode characters - or just “Track 1”, “Track 2”, etc??
Phase 1 of CD scanning project complete: 268 English-language albums.
Wow, Charlie really IS so @coollike.
@WictorVianna My kids play CP, but I don’t. (We actually discovered CP while looking for rockhopper penguin photos for my avatar).
[earlier today, in the attic] 8yo: “what’s this switch do?” me: “it turns off that outlet” [12 hours later] why is the house so cold? #oops