This space left intentionally blank

4chan

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:52:28 GMT

Today AT&T blocked their users from accessing img.4chan.org

4chan gets called a lot of ugly names, and, indeed appears to be many ugly things, but it is one of the most influential sites on the Internet. It's where many popular Internet memes such as rickrolling started. It's also an easy target for those who would restrict and censor the Internet, because the loose regulation of the site also attracts some of the Internets more unpleasant denizens.

Anyway, if you don't like this sort of censorship, or perhaps if you like it, you should let AT&T know.

(Update: It turns out that there are a lot of rumors and maybes about what's actually going on. We'll have to wait and see how this develops and not blame AT&T for being evil just yet.)

Voldemort's Face

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:30:42 GMT

If you're interested in either Harry Potter or computer vision, this picture should be of interest to you. Check out the dots painted on Voldemort's face!

http://www.oclumencia.com.br/galeria/albums/19/promocionais-odf-oclumencia_com_br_(11).jpg

Anyway, a quick guess at how this works is that there's a 3D laser scan of the actor's face, and a 3D model containing the structure and material properties of Voldemort's face. The dots are placed in the correct places on the actor's face, and some minimization (probably non-linear, such as Levenberg-Marquardt) is used to solve for the optimal pose in the Voldemort movie footage.

Neat, eh?

Ping

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:43:09 GMT

It's been a while since I posted. I stopped posting on LJ in hopes that it would light a fire under my butt to start a "real" blog.

Anyway, hey folks.

Heya

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:05:37 GMT

Hey. I haven't posted to my LJ in a while. I want to start posting again, so I can keep in touch with people. I'm also kicking around putting together a real blog, so to speak. I want to write about my research but there's the obvious problem of not wanting to publish not-yet-published results. We'll see what comes of it.

Twin Peaks

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:37:49 GMT

Finally watching Twin Peaks. Halfway through the second season.

Crackberry

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:23:46 GMT

After hemming and hawing over whether to get an iPhone or a crackberry, I chose a Blackberry Curve 8320.

First thing I noticed:

Blackberry + Facebook + Drunk Dialing = Danger If you use Facebook through the Blackberry, it will turn your friends list into a phonebook for you.

Overall, very cool. Too distracting for this time of year :-P

Espen

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:26:30 GMT

I'm sorry to hear of Espen's passing. My condolences to everyone who knew him, especially Nathan and Anthony. He was a good guy.

Is XTZ no more?

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:33:03 GMT

So, I tried purchasing some SkyRocket syrup from xtz.com, and the form wouldn't submit.

I tried emailing sales@xtz.com.

I tried emailing jjs@xtz.com.

Both bounced.

Uhmm... is XTZ still in business?

Ack!

Ice on Mars

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:59:40 GMT

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=85

Everyone's heard, right?

Otherworld

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:51:08 GMT

Hey folks, some of you have heard me tell you about Otherworld (www.otherworld.org). It's a totally worthwhile experience, and I think that everyone should check it out. I especially think that it would appeal to many of my Camarilla friends (though, there are many things that differentiate it from a LARP).

Anyway, a few tidbits

1) I will be on staff this year :-)
2) It will be on Columbus Day weekend.
3) The price is $200 if you reg before Sept 1. $225 after. Space is limited.

Anyway, it would be awesome to see any of you folks who can make it.

A couple more details for my friend-listed people, since it would be awkward if random readership emailed me about that time I invited them to come crash with me in my dorm room at school.

Captain Crunch Frappuccino

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:41:18 GMT

Apparently, this frappuccino tastes exactly like crunchberries.

1 Tall Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino with:
1 Pump Hazelnut
1 Pump Toffee nut
Whipped Cream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKLZAEAlf-I

My goal tomorrow is to consume this beverage.

Ancient Roman D20

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:39:01 GMT

http://www.christies.com/Lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4205385

For real.

How long could I survive in the vacuum of space?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:25:37 GMT

Created by OnePlusYou

Scream 2

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:23:00 GMT

Scream 2 should be renamed to something like, "nobody ever buys a gun, the one guy who had a gun didn't freaking shoot it, and when the killer is incapacitated, we never take him out, we try to sneak away like morons."

Presentation tools for Linux?

Wed, 28 May 2008 06:53:48 GMT

I like Powerpoint well enough. I think that Keynote is a great presentation tool. I find that OpenOffice Impress falls flat on its face on many counts. Some of the features are pretty nice, but the interface is buggy, and it crashes often.

What gives?

Is there a presentation tool for Linux that is any good? As good as Keynote? (Bugs aside, I think that Impress is about as good as Powerpoint).

No fanboyism. Real opinions only, please. This is a matter of practical importance, not ideology.

LastFM tracks not matching the CDs in the interface?

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:48:33 GMT

What's the deal with LastFM tracks that don't match the album in the interface?

Right now I'm listening to the live version of "The Something Special," by The Bouncing Souls. The interface says that it's off of "What I did on my summer vacation," which it is, but not the live version.

Note to people building store finders

Mon, 19 May 2008 08:27:15 GMT

When you're building a store finder for your chain, perhaps it would be wise to include the hours of operation on the form.

1) Not all locations will be open for business at regular hours. Yale is near several areas where the businesses tend to close early due to the crime rate.
2) It's 4:30 AM, and I'm awake. If I knew that either Dunkin' Donuts or Krispy Kreme (yes, there's one in Milford) were open at this time, I might stop in for breakfast. As is, I'll head down to Gourmet Heaven, since I know that they are open.

Wargames is going to have a direct to DVD sequel

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:05:24 GMT

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/war-games-seque.html

Yeah...

Funny video

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:12:09 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUt0RSU9qok

This is long, but worth it.

Traditional Boxing in Nigeria

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:55:04 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/africa_traditional_boxing_in_nigeria/html/1.stm

ThinkGeek misses the mark again

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:40:26 GMT

Wow, ThinkGeek really missed the mark with these toys.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/a213/

6.2" Long (slightly smaller than a real handgun)

From this we conclude that nobody at ThinkGeek has ever seen a handgun or taken a gun safety course of any kind.

If it weren't for the blaze orange tip and the slightly smaller gun size we'd be a bit concerned about our co-workers packing these at office meetings.

Haha! What a great environment to bring your airsoft gun to. After all, everyone knows that gun companies make airsoft replicas of their firearms with orange tips, and there's no harm in shooting a replica of a firearm at an unsuspecting person.

Coworker: Oooh, sorry about beating you unconscious there, Timmy. It's just, well, my unfamiliarity with airsoft guns made me think that that was a real gun. I'm such an asshole.

Of course, they still haven't thanked me for pointing out the bug in their Geek Points system: http://bsdstud.livejournal.com/42771.html

Even so, I've made a couple of new acquisitions:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/a1f3/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/5b4a/

Yes, of course it was the green fire that caught my eye.

Annoying

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:56:37 GMT

http://forums.microsoft.com/genuine/showpost.aspx?postid=2934276&siteid=25&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=2

There are two sides to every argument, but this is actually pretty annoying. Essentially, people would like to dual boot Linux & Windows, and, when booted into Linux, boot Windows up in VMWare. There are good reasons to do this. For instance, perhaps you have a research application that runs under Linux, but have another that runs under Windows. No VMWare = no love. Suppose, however, that you also want to play a video game. No 3D acceleration under VMWare also = no love.

Every time you switch between virtual Windows and Windows on the bare hardware, it'll ask for your license key. Do this a few times, and your key will expire, permanently.

Weak.
"virtual" hardware is different hardware, and the EULA states that the license is only good for once machine. Now, it's a silly argument for a number of reasons, but, whatever. That's not the point.

The point is, that it's really annoying that users have a legitimate concern, will log into a forum to ask about it, and you'll get a bunch of people chiming in who have no clue what they're talking about making noise over the signal of the conversation. There are like, 2 people on that thread who are actually helpful. The rest are Linux or MS fanboys who will take either side no matter how ridiculous the argument, and, it's readily apparent that several people on both sides don't really seem to understand the argument at all. Not that that's preventing them from dominating the thread.

So, after a few months of having dealt with this, I'm doing the obvious thing. I obtained a second license key (legally mind you), and will install a Windows VMWare installation on a VMWare fake partition on my Linux drive, from which to run applications when I'm not running Windows natively.

I don't think that there's anything in the EULA that prevents me from running a single instance of Windows under VMWare and on bare hardware. In fact, I think that Microsoft has even said as much, during the clarification of the licensing terms for Vista (also, to whoever said that running Vista won't fix this, you're wrong, it's explicitly stated that it WILL fix this in their licensing terms, in that running multiple instances in VMs is perfectly legit).

But, just to point out why this solution completely sucks. This means, now, that when I install a driver under VMWare, I have to go re-install it on bare hardware, and vice versa, and that applications that do things like tinker with the registry will also go apeshit on me.

So, to those who posted suggesting this solution. I understand that you don't understand why I would ever need to run that damned Linux operating system, and you especially don't understand why I would mind maintaining two copies of Windows when I only need one. I'll boil it down. Because I do, and because my job is to study and do research, not to maintain multiple Windows installations. This solution takes something that should be very simple (remember, if WGA wasn't running, it wouldn't be an issue at all, and, barring that, it's supported natively, and explicitly, in the operating system via hardware profiles), and makes it very hard.

When you argue that those sorts of solutions are good solutions, you don't make Microsoft look good. If you took note of the people who were actual Microsoft employees in the thread, they didn't seem prone to suggesting such solutions. Perhaps you should take their cue.

Linux fanboys. It's their licensing scheme. It's their program. They know it's not the greatest and they've been trying to help people when this issue comes up (I've spoken to MS tech support for free multiple times on this issue, and they offered to replace my license key and everything). I know it's a great hobby to MS bash, but, when they're trying to help you is just not the time for all of that. Imagine being in their shoes.

Lets say you're in tech support.

Dude on street: Hey, could you fix my computer.
You: Sure! That's my job!
Dude on street: Awesome. You know, you wouldn't have to fix my computer if you weren't a fat slob.
You: Well, that certainly makes me want to fix your computer even more. Let me see if we can get this resolve for you...

Yeah, it's never soul crushing to have to do that. Is it? Lay off the tech support dude.

Note: I didn't participate in that conversation thread.
Second Node: To the dude comparing paying $35 for personal level support to paying $200+ for server support. Get real. There's a big difference between paying for support intended for businesses and paying for personal level support. Especially when it's known that there is no solution to this issue by all parties involved, except, possibly, to crack Windows so WGA doesn't start.

You're In Control

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:26:10 GMT

Super Pii Pii Brothers, the ThinkGeek April Fool's joke reminded me of a real HCI project, You're In Control, by Monzy.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/superpiipii.html
http://www.monzy.org/urinecontrol/

Alvaro Orlando

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:36:34 GMT

So, I've been watching VH1's The Pickup Artist.

Doesnt' Alvaro Orlando look like the dude who played Ruffio in Hook?

(Update: Haha, yeah, he's an actor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pick-up_Artist_(TV_series))

Arthur C. Clark

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:15:44 GMT

Easily one of my favorite authors. R.I.P.