• Bulk update December 07

    Wow, I really have to keep this thing updated. So now that it’s past mid-January, I should document December, right? ;) Anyway, December: The older I get, the more I notice my capacity for putting up with bullshit decreasing at an alarming rate. Latest bullshit from GMAC: Not three weeks after filing a complaint re:

    Read More…

  • Spirit of X-Mas in America

    True story. The following overheard on my way into the Shaw’s on Locust St., where a cop (or rent-a-cop, they all look alike) was hassling what I could only guess was a suspected shoplifter (or generally suspicious mixed-ethnicity youth, etc.): “You walk into the store, you walk out of the store, you don’t buy anything…

    Read More…

  • Clean Pile / Dirty Pile – laundry management system and method rev2

    As mentioned in a recent post, I own a dresser, which has been stocked with clothing* approximately twice in the last 3.5 years. (Eek, Boston, has it really been that long?) I don’t know who came up with dressers, but they probably didn’t have a day job. “So wait, I’m supposed to take all the

    Read More…

  • Why Windows asks you for drivers again whenever you plug a USB device into a new port!

    I found this today while searching on another USB-developer-related problem: "Why does Windows not recognize my USB device as the same device if I plug it into a different port?" For those who can’t be bothered to click the link, this occurs if the device doesn’t specify a serial number in its USB descriptors. They

    Read More…

  • The good, the bad, and the ugly!

    OK, I kind of forgot I have a blog here. Anyway, here’s a bulk update of the last few weeks. Good: Thanksgiving: HAL, LE and I went over to TvS’ place two doors down for a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner with their whole family and MP. They had turkey and all the trimmings; we (mainly

    Read More…

  • | grep snow

    Datestamp entry and obligatory ‘snow’ entry (along with half of livejournal) :-P This Tues. morning was our first unambiguous snowfall for the year. But while I’m here: HAL’s big-screen LCDTV came in the mail today. By “came in the mail” I mean we trucked our asses through the Nostril Bridge (I guess it only looks

    Read More…

  • Takin’ Care of Bullshit, everyday

    This week was the week of dealing with billing-related BS – namely, clearing up why the city is still sending tax bills to GJM (in Texas), a discrepancy between the written and printed oil bills we got, and suspicious charges on my last mortgage statement. The first two were quickly and easily resolved. As for

    Read More…

  • Nintendo DS Lite power (current) consumption, part 2 (and other stuff!)

    This is a continuation of this post, where I hooked up an ammeter as an afterthought while changing the fuse I blew in my DSLite. I didn’t have any games with me and hadn’t fixed it up to sleep with a SuperCard, so these additional numbers are below. Check the prior post for stuff about

    Read More…

  • CPA / tax jockey needed

    To get my small business (sole proprietorship) off the ground and…er, buzzing. Or just provide good answers to a few home-business tax questions. Anyone? …Bueller? * * * I spoke to a lawyer yesterday (relax, not due to an unsolicited FedEx…this time ;) about starting that shindig up using a “least-cost least-risk” approach. (I’m not

    Read More…

  • Drmn’ Vibe netdemo at Intro.Inter.Tech

    First off, there is a [Big Photo Album] with pics and videos of many of the pieces. (Audio-centric ones didn’t document well since my camera seems to assume the microphone(s) are just there for the photographer to talk to it, and any sound that occurs in front of the camera is just noise.) Also, the

    Read More…

  • A stitch in the time domain saves nine

    So, there I was contemplating the easiest way to decode (as a non-keyer) the single-frequency pattern, reminiscent of Morse Code, hiding from time to time in the background noise of the Evanescence song My Immortal. (Yeah yeah, formally admitting that I listen to that stuff.) As an afterthought while thinking of the changes I’d need

    Read More…

  • IEEE Sez: Open Source == Terrorism!

    No, that’s not a typo, and not (much) of an exaggeration*. For a limited time, you can read the full article here in IEEE Spectrum of all places (IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). But basically, it exists to draw none-too-subtle comparisons between Iraqi insurgence and the Open Source movement, drawing heavily

    Read More…

  • PQI Update

    My rant on PQI has been updated; they have made good on their warranty (actually as of last month, but I hadn’t gotten around to updating it).

    Read More…

  • DorkbotBoston haunted mansion at Willoughby & Baltic

    [Pictures! The world needs Pictures!] So after some late nights hurriedly hacking some stuff together, HAL and I got our stuff together for the haunted mansion. Between work and girlfriend schedules, there wasn’t much time to really polish anything. On the short notice we did a snowy owl that wigs out (eyes fade from green

    Read More…

  • _CircRef

    After posting the previous post and image, with link to turbulence.org where the show in which the project depicted in the image is being shown is being promoted*, server logs indicate the image was picked up from LJ and used by the automated script of another turbulence.org-hosted art project that same day. Coincidental and eerie.

    Read More…

  • intercommunicate

    Quick ‘n dirty, but my demo for the intro.inter.tech show is almost finished. Powered by maraschino cherries and vodka ;-) The show will be this weekend, Sat. 11/03/2007, 2-7pm. ULA Cafe / The Brewery Complex 284 Amory St. Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 It’s aaaart! Bring your friends! Figure 1: "oh, beep me again!"

    Read More…

  • Not Dead

    Just crazy busy getting stuff together for the Dorkbot haunted mansion and Introvert Intercommunicate…will post some updates soon. In the meanwhile, digging up my potatoes in the backyard I came across this rusty old buried canister, marked only with a weird symbol and a string of numbers. So I cranked it open with a pipe

    Read More…

  • Warning to Verizon cuss-tomers

    In about 30 days, Verizon will begin selling your calling records to marketing companies, unless you call their opt-out number. (Yeah, this does sound like some kind of bad chain letter, except not.) This information (CPNI, or customer proprietary network information) includes the numbers you call, how long, how often, and how much it cost

    Read More…

  • Computers Internet Blog (welcome to my access.log)

    Welcome! You can probably guess what three things this entry is about. When you already know about computers, the Internet and blogs, this is of course the first thing you’d feel a desperate need to Google for, of course! Err…wait, Magic 2^16 Ball is telling me you just found this phrase in your serverlogs and

    Read More…

  • Goatse.cx is for sale…

    Want to own one of the hottest Web properties? Be prepared to pry your wallet wiiiide open and dig deep however – the bidding starts at 10,000 EUR (about 14 kilobucks).

    Read More…


Find stuff…