Outguessing the machine

Month: August 2008

  • [meme] The Omnivore’s Hundred

    The Omnivore’s Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives. The rules of the meme: 1) Bold those you have tried 2) Strikethrough those you wouldn’t eat on a bet. 3) Italicize any item you’ll never eat again. 4) Asterisk any items you’d…

  • Eggcorn, or possible computer-spellcheck-gone-wild?

    Saw this in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal and it made me snerk: “In the case, Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc., a maker of womens’ purses and accessories, was sued by Kay’s Kloset, a Dallas retailer, after Leegin cut off shipments to Kay’s. Kay’s had been discounting Leegin’s wears.”

  • smallfish@tech

    So yeah, that particular work project just keeps getting better. Today I got this in my email from the manufacturer of a critical component, reaffirming my personal “If it’s not in-stock on Digikey, I do not specify it in my design” policy. […] The <display> is on hold. There are no technical reasons but it…

  • WinLIRC stuff

    Yes, it means I’m hacking around on a MythTV setup again. LIRC is Linux Infrared Remote Control, a program for receiving keypresses from a remote control (TVs, etc.) on the computer, and/or blasting out simulated remote-control keypresses. WinLIRC is the same thing, for a Windows box*. Its documentation is a bit lacking however, so this…

  • IT Groaner

    Q: What’s the last thing you do when you know your hard drive’s about to die? A: Read its last writes…

  • It’s a mean old bitch and it has stupid name, bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch

    So, I got an email back today from a contractee, whereupon I learned: 1) A technology I created, which I envisioned as having significant pro-consumer subversive uses, will instead be used as a carrier for evil (“hey, can it collect usage data to sell to credit-card companies every time they use it? That would be…

  • Haulin’ Gluteus, and maybe kickin’ some!

    So, this weekend was the weekend of much furniture and other Stuff hauling, helping Kr* move into the World’s Tiniest Apartment in Waltham. Here is where our childhood Tetris addictions paid off. Budget Rent-a-moving-truck was supposed to have the 10-footer we reserved, but, whoopsie-doodle, didn’t. So the options were either a smaller van, or a…

  • Bank of America(R) Doesn’t Like your Lifestyle

    Via LJ::pervygeekfancy Geek dating site opens, accepts most comers, including all gay/bi/lez/mixed/poly preferences which are somewhat heavily represented in geekdom. Bank of America(R) signs on as merchant account support. Bank of America(R) isn’t cool with poly. Poly users get their profiles kicked off the dating site with a polite, but unambiguous letter essentially saying, “our…

  • Garden stuff!

    So, we’ve been tearing weeds (once in a while) out of this garden for a while now, but few people have actually seen it. So here it is! [Our Garden] It’s in a great spot since directly behind our house is a ballfield, which means a) plenty of light (no tall houses behind it blocking…

  • First New England RepRap User’s Group Meeting at Olin College

    Toward the end of July a couple friends and I had the chance to drop in to the first New England RepRap usergroup meeting. RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid Prototyper (a.k.a. 3D printer), the goal being an open-source machine design capable of making most of its own parts. The machine itself consists of a…

  • Only in Medford…