Farsong Blog-o-Matic

EWU Drive Food

2008-07-23T17:03:41Z

EWU Drive Food
Originally uploaded by rogue cnidarian

Part of a continuing series on incomprehensible signage and typography.

Seriously, I don't care what you say -- that sign clearly reads as "EWU DRIVE FOOD."

Compudrome

2008-07-22T05:49:39Z

The laptop decided to stop booting from its HDD.

It won't recognise the drive at all; I don't know if it's the HDD that's borked, or the SATA controller onboard that's fried. All I know is that it froze on me, in the middle of the OS, and it won't recognise the HDD, even after a PRAM reset.

I hope that it's not a drive failure. I'd be annoyed at that, but that's only a weeks' worth of sporadic writing lost. Not terribly important, as everything terribly necessary is already backed up. It would still be annoying to reinstall everything. I'd actually be marginally pleased if it were a SATA controller failure, because that means the HDD probably still works, even if it means that it takes longer to repair the MacBook. If it is the SATA controller, that means the HDD its self hasn't failed yet, and all HDDs do fail eventually.

Unfortunately, I have no available 2.5" SATA drives or external drive enclosures with which to test, and I've spent a half-hour more than I should have on this. I'll let it cool down and try it again tomorrow afternoon.

At least I still have my desktop.

Musical Interlude

2008-07-21T22:48:44Z

Today's playlist:

Soul Bossanova

Nature Boy

Three To Get Ready

Dr Horrible's Real-Time Blog Solution

2008-07-19T22:37:18Z

Dr Horrible has a video blog. It's a mad science musical video blog, actually, and details the shy Dr Horrible's encounters with his arch-nemisis, the annoying, haughty superhero Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion).

It's most excellent, and created by the esteemed Joss Whedon. Go watch it now, because all three acts are going to be taken down tomorrow.

edit: It appears that my brother just found it too. On his own. I didn't point him to it. What I did is sit and laugh for several minutes straight, actually needing to pause it.

Admissions

2008-07-18T00:42:13Z

Someone got something wrong at EWU. Right hands doesn't know what the left is doing. Something like that.

Unfortunately, I don't think that I should apply or go to a school that gets my year wrong. Grad-u-ated class of aught-five. Haven't been a senior in four years. Yep ... definitely can't go to a school that makes such a grievous error.

Syd Mead, futurist pt 2

2008-07-17T19:32:01Z

I thought that the first episode was amazing. The second blew me away. If you're not watching Boingboing TV regularly (and you do find the odd things I write and blog about at least somewhat interesting), you owe it to yourself to subscribe to the RSS feed and read it. Excitedly.

I love the quote at the end, about the design of automobiles -- the idea that we will not get the cool future cars because
1) no one really can appreciate the aesthetic of a well-designed car anymore, and
2) autos are a commodity.

Well, I don't so much love the idea as I am shocked by it -- but the analysis is spot-on and comes as a bit of a revelation. I hope that thoughts like that shock people into doing something.

Slow Down

2008-07-17T04:14:47Z

I went south to Pullman and WSU this past weekend, taking my brother to camp. I took the camera down and shot about a roll (about 24 exposures). There are a lot of cool buildings, and a number of old ones. It's also the first time I've been down there and explored the campus (the last time was 4 or 5 years before with Jazz Band, and then we only stayed in one recital hall, and it was cold out, so there was no exploring).

I need to take a trip sometime and take pictures of the remnants of the 1950s' Atomic design language — it's only outside the cities in the old towns that the starburst- and boomerang-shaped signs still exist.

Anyway, WSU has some cool buildings.

The Smiler

2008-07-16T04:13:27Z

I saw Obama on the television-box to-day. He had an interview with some daytime television talkshow host. At the end of the interview, Obama grinned. It was almost creepy. Okay, it was downright creepy — mostly because it reminded me of another Smiler*.

So I had to come home and whip up an image in the name of fair use and parody**:

--
* I'd be really impressed if you get this reference — both textual and visual
** Though, algebraically, parody = reality^-1 (the inverse of reality). Would then a parody of a parody be genuine?

Futurism

2008-07-15T18:05:34Z

BBTV Syd Mead, futurist, car designer.

(Watched this on the bus, and I couldn't get it out of my head)

Keyboarding

2008-07-14T22:07:00Z

I just found another reason to love Mac OSX: Keyboard support.

Not only can I disable the function of the Caps Lock key and turn it into a Control key (al la emacs) with global keyboard controls, but I can set profiles for individual keyboards.

This is super useful for keyboards with different layouts (say, using a PC layout keyboard and a Mac-layout keyboard — or when swapping keyboards out). It's useful mostly to touchtypists who have gotten used to the Macintosh layout of the keys but may use a "Standard PC" keyboard layout (the Super/Command and Alt/Option keys are swapped on PC/Mac Keyboards). Alternately useful to those used to PC-layout keyboards on a Mac-layout keyboard (though I think shortcut chords are easier to press with the location of the Command than the Control key).

(the “USB-PS2 Adapter” is built into my USB hub; I don't use it for the keyboard, but I do use it for the mouse, to save a USB port)

klitaka @ 2008-07-13T23:42:00

2008-07-14T06:42:18Z

That one dude has an awesome hat. I'll give him that. The rest of the video is just wobbly pictures of the (annoyingly flamboyant) band shimmying and flailing with guitars with some interspersing of people posing in a martial arts gym. Doesn't really tell a story. It's like it tries to look like a metal band, but it kinda fails on that point.

But how many kids who watch this will remember that Michael Jackson did this song first? How many fewer will know Weird Al's "Eat It" parody of this song? Or even know of Weird Al?

Links for 13/07/2008

2008-07-14T06:30:38Z

Bizarre News:
Man keeps pet rattler

Ibuprofen Search

Heavy Rains complicated California Firefighting

Abstinence-only Education in Texas

Pilot Detained by TSA for plastic knife
[via Boingboing]

Man found in WI basement covered in BBQ sauce

Graphic Design:
Making of the Obama "Progress" Print
Cool bit detailing the usage of Photoshop, Illustrator, and working with a print shop

Legibility of Serif vs Sans-Serif Typefaces
Basically, it doesn't matter, so pick what looks good for the content/purpose (serifs are still pretty)

Funny:
Gape: The Magazine for Mouthbreathers

Being for the benefit of the fabulous gas_mask_dragon, I Really Hate FA

Internet Celebrities make up new sammitches at McDonalds
[via Boingboing]

Growth of Walmart
[via bigcontrarian]

Lindsey Lohan's pants
[also via bigcontrarian]

Big Lebowski as one image

Mawiage is what bwings us together today

Hooplah

2008-07-11T14:44:58Z

The internet seems to have collectively shat its self over the latest iPhone release. I was mercifully gone from the internet the last time time it lost control and soiled itself over the iPhone, but today I'm boycotting my Twitter and RSS feeds (hell, even my webcomics) because the blogs that normally geek out about typography have instead started to fanboy over the iPhone.

It's slightly annoying when the nearest Apple store is 300 miles away and one does not care for such an incremental upgrades. Or the astounding force with which the internet changes course. Or have the cash for a new phone AND a terrible plan on a terrible carrier.

I'll be here -- I'm just avoiding the internet today. Seriously.

klitaka @ 2008-07-10T23:25:00

2008-07-11T06:25:41Z

Math vs. Programming

2008-07-09T17:57:21Z

In programming, it's a common joke that programmers start coding before they really understand the problem. It's amusing because it's really a half-truth. Often, all the code a programmer's written before he fully understands the domain of the problem has to be scrapped (or at least retooled to fit, which is often more tedious than actually writing the stuff).

In and of its self, this is not a terrible way to go about understanding a problem, and insightful things can come from taking time to start coding. One is practise with a language. Another is eventual understanding of a problem.

But it's still a bad way to go about it because it's grossly inefficient -- but the worst part is that I've found that I do it myself. Even worse, I do it in math, where it has no bering. The problem is not so much the methodology as it is the application of the programmer's modus operendus in situations in which it does not belong.

I start working a math problem before I really know what the problem is really asking me. If I were to spend more time figuring out what the problem was before I started solving it, I'd have a much better handle on it as a whole, intstead of having to scrap a half-page of maths.

The way a math major goes about solving a problem is almost the exact opposite, starting first with the understanding of the problem, then of what the question is asking -- and this understanding takes a little more time at the beginning. I need to practise this MO, and need to apply it to programming, too -- sketch out the problem first to see its domain.

Anyway, I'm going to spend the majority of the afternoon today understanding mathematics problems, but I think I'm going to get some lunch first.

Posted via email from BlackBerry.

4th of July Holiday

2008-07-07T22:42:30Z

Princess cruiseliner sails out of the Sound towards Alaska, sailing into the setting sun

I went over to Whidbey Island this last weekend, about halfway between Coupeville and Freeland, directly across the bay from Port Townsend. It's a beautiful little cabin of my Uncle's, down a quiet, hidden sideroad in the middle of the island, surprisingly near Steve Balmer's own cabin and property (my uncle built there before the Balmers' cabin was a twinkle in the Steve's eye).

It was a lot of fun, and was the first time we've been out there for the fourth and it hasn't rained. Lots of walks on the beach. Found some giant sea life. I took a lot of pictures (you can follow this link and browse all from this weekend).

The sibling makes weird faces. I love him.

Maybe the funny faces are genetic

loafcat

Sibling and parent with a gynormous starfish

I am a crab. I pinch.

Onboard the passenger deck of the MV Cathlamet

Loading the ferry

My father, taking a break at a rest stop along the way to the west side

A sunset (near the gorge, I presume)

Looking northwest from the beach; the San Juans are to the right, and Fort Worden is to the left.

Sunset from the Cabin

Found
on the beach:
bucket, no owner,
inside a hut
of driftwood

Overall, I was impressed with the camera this weekend. played with an Alpha A350 — the newer 14MP — and decided that, not only was I pretty much satisfied with my A100 and its meagre 10MP, but I liked it more. the "live view" thing on the newer Sony SLRs really throws me off. It's like, that's not how an SLR works! Takes it down to the level of point-and-shoot!

Also, I realised that the display of my camera likes to wash out the images I see; the levels have more nuance and depth on my computer than on the camera (it seems to truncate the brights, and seems to actually make things both lighter and darker than they actually are). The images look real on the computer, just not so much on the camera's display — I just need to trust that the camera has captured the contrasts of the image accurately, and in that way it's a lot like shooting film (you know, trusting the camera).

It may have helped that I shoot in aperture-priority mode most of the time (so I can have the gorgeous, deep fields of focus I love, where only the subject is in focus, and the background is all blurred) and switch to fully manual mode rather frequently, too, just to control it a little more and make the shots consistent. I also did a lot of manual focus, because the AF seems to like to spazz out as I'm holding it. It's fairly effective, but it was just annoying me.

I alos switched the camera back to auto-white-balance, and was impressed with the clarity of the images. 5500k is nice, but the Alpha's really quite intelligent.

LIBERTY FREEDOMS

2008-07-05T05:01:01Z

beatonna gets the 4^th of July right.

THAT IS ALL

Easy on pumps please

2008-07-04T02:12:30Z

Easy on pumps please
Originally uploaded by rogue cnidarian

Holiday

2008-07-03T23:16:11Z

Packing up to head over to Whidbey Island for the weekend. I'll be in contact, just probably not blogging. There will be comicing, but no scanning till I get back to town.

Man descending staircase in a wheelchair

2008-07-02T18:00:01Z

Man descending staircase in a wheelchair
Originally uploaded by rogue cnidarian

Postmodern surreal

Stop!

2008-07-01T17:01:48Z

Stop!
Originally uploaded by rogue cnidarian

This elevator is being serviced!

Cool little sign. It's a pity new signs don't have this much character.

Part in an ongoing series on typography and signage.

klitaka @ 2008-06-30T21:57:00

2008-07-01T04:57:45Z

MacGuffin

2008-06-30T07:31:39Z

It's finally summer; time to put fans in windows. It's also time to venture into the basement room of boxes (of doom). Seriously, that room's probably a fire-hazard. Or an Indiana Jones trap or something. I shut the door as soon as I grabbed the fan, and booked it back up the stairs.

(Drawn in like 20 minutes ... blargb ... I need to get back into drawing things from life — I haven't been looking for that make me go "that would make a great comic," and I need to start doing that again).

To-day was super hot, though. Hoopfest (the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tourney) was going on downtown this weekend, and it was packed. The festivities bring something in the neighbourhood of $25 million into the city. We also need to get the A/C recharged in the family car, as it provided no relief from the heat whatsoever.

Also, saw Wall•E today. It's a story told almost entirely without words, and so uses the inherently visual medium of film to tell a story almost perfectly. I need to watch it several more times (preferably on DVD so I can pause it) to catch all the nuances of the signs and graphic design — especially in the first few minutes. You are doing yourself a disservice if you don't see this wonderful masterpiece of a movie.

Zapcar

2008-06-26T04:50:08Z

Just saw this cool little three-wheeled electric car on my walk down to the grocery store, so I snapped some pics with my phone. It has a little motorcycle plate, not a full-sized plate, on the back. Replete with LED turn indicators, two seats, a tape-deck, a truck bed, and what appears to be three headlights.

Optical Drive Fun

2008-06-26T02:21:36Z

So, I've been planning to get an eeePC 901, right? It's a tiny computer, its form dictated by the 8.9" display. It's small and light, using a Solid State Disk made of flash memory instead of an HHD with a spinning disk platter. The SSD is less susceptible to shocks, and the read times are higher.

Of course, with a computer this small (and it is a full computer — don't let anyone tell you otherwise!), some compromises are made. One of these is that the computer lacks an internal optical drive. This doesn't worry me, as (like most of the most powerful features of my MacBook) I don't use the optical drive more than 10% of the time, and would just as soon remove it to save weight (I liked being able to remove the optical drive to reduce weight and power draw on my old G3 PowerBook).

The eee PC doesn't ship with an optical drive at all. All I really need is a CD-ROM drive, and that's for installing things like Ubuntu, backing up photos I've taken when I'm away from my main machine (though with the 8gb CF card, that's somewhat rare), and doing a little bit on the go — let's get this straight: the eee is not for video editing. Maybe watching some DVDs, but that's it. Fortunately, I have an external one of those. Unfortunately, it's a PCMCIA-based thing, meaning that it won't work on most laptops now. And booting from it is out of the question.

Meaning that I was intending to purchase one of these, as Apple's MacBook Air Superdrive*, while affordable and awesome, would only work with MacBook Airs. The LG model was the only one that was actually legitimately Bus-powered, besides the Apple drive.

Today while reading my feeds, I found an article about hacking a MacBook Air External SuperDrive to run on anything. I went into the article with the idea that I could do this instead of buying a drive from Newegg. Not that something like the LG drive was bad, but slot-load drives are both cooler and less prone to breakage as the pop-out-tray drives. Plus, they have a more satisfying disk-loading sound.

Then I saw how the hack was done: it used a $9 USB adapter for laptop drives. Swap that out for the PCB in the MacBook Air Superdrive (and with a little soldering, retain the original cable and casing). It's just a regular laptop drive with a little IDE-to-USB interface, and all the plugs of laptop drives are the same. A Mac drive will work in a PC just fine.

And then it all clicked.

I don't need the MacBook Air SuperDrive. I don't need a new $90 DVD drive from Newegg. I already have a DL Slot-load SuperDrive. It's from my old G3 PowerBook, and it works natively with OSX** (it was an up-grade for the G3 PowerBook — the system actually shipped with a tray-load DVD-ROM drive, 12gb HDD, and 128mb RAM). The G3 died, but I kept the drive. It's a nice little drive, and it has a wonderful sound when it "eats" the discs.

So, except for the IDE-USB bridge, I already have all the things i need for an external drive. Why pay more money when I already have a drive. Plus, it can be a dual-layer drive for my G5 as well (the machine has only a single-layer burner). And it has a glowing amber light. What's not to love?

Now, the only thing left to do would be to make a proper external case. Which sounds suspiciously like fun, especially considering the old laptop parts I have hanging around. And now to apply the $10.11 I got back from Idaho to this little USB device.

--
* "Superdrive" is Apple's term for a DVD-Burner, these days being a DL DVD±RW. Originally the term was for the Double-sided high-density 1.4mb 2.5"

** And it's either OSX or Linux for me. If it works in OSX, chances are that I can get it to work in Linux, too. And those drives have pretty standard, known, and documented interfaces. Heck, the PCMCIA drive that's 12 years old still works great with Ubuntu, and I used to use that on a 486 with Win 95.