Trackforward - outbound postings - eichin@thok.org
Trackforward: my log of postings to other places - blogs, comments, reviews.
Links should point back to the comment in-situ. Someday this might even serve as
authentication (or at least deniability-reduction) of who I am on the net. RSS feed:
stufflog.rss
Last Cooked: Sat Feb 4 03:39:31 2012
2012-02-04
- About:
Google App Inventor : Android
- When:
Sat Feb 4 03:39:26 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/p9y62/google_app_inventor/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 40 milliseconds ago MIT is running a test version, and expects to have a free public one up later in the year; they also have jars you can download to run it yourself, for example if you're running a class, from here http://appinventoredu.mit.edu/ and it looks like the sources are finally available from http://code.google.com/p/app-inventor-releases/ (that's just over a week old :-) I wrote a couple of apps under the google version - it got frustrating fairly quickly, but I'm a programmer :-) There are clearly bits of it that would work great on a multitouch screen and are wretched with a mouse. It's also not interestingly visual - you get about as much help as you'd get from an aggressively auto-completing IDE, in the sense that you can't have syntax errors - the interfaces are expressed visually as puzzle-piece edges, but the pieces stretch and morph to fit. It doesn't have anything like Raskin's infinite-depth canvas - you can write functions/procedures, and then use them elsewhere on the canvas (they appear on a menu once created), but there's no real connection between them. Not to say that this isn't helpful to non-programmers - if anything, it's probably a better stepping stone to conventional programming because it isn't trying too hard to be visually/spatially sophisticated. (What I really want to do is to take the visual part out and turn it into a python-like syntax, then use that AST to drive the code generator; the set of "primitives" is decent enough, and it would get rid of the ludicrous levels of verbosity that simple java programs have. And I've already got three appinventor apps to start from :-) permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
Anyone know of any opportunities to get a PyCon 2012 ticket? : Python
- When:
Fri Feb 3 22:52:37 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/p9uxl/anyone_know_of_any_opportunities_to_get_a_pycon/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 71 milliseconds ago They are reservations, not tickets - no fungability implied. (I'd been waffling about going, missed the early-bird deadline, and was startled that the headcount limit was hit at all, let alone hit so quickly - last year had a 1500 limit as well, but it wasn't actually hit. Is Santa Clara just that much more exciting than Atlanta, or is it an indication that the economy is improving?) permalink edit delete reply
2012-01-29
- About:
What is everyone's preferred editor? : Python
- When:
Sat Jan 28 19:21:24 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/p07zu/what_is_everyones_preferred_editor/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 50 milliseconds ago You mean the sample bias that even most glorious app ever, if it's MacOS only, just isn't going to be that popular overall? :-) Alternatively, any editor thread is mostly going to bring out emacs and vi people, with occasional singleton responses from other users - because it's kind of distinctive among the vi and emacs communities that an editor actually is something you should be opinionated about - for everyone else it's Just A Thing...
- About:
What is everyone's preferred editor? : Python
- When:
Sat Jan 28 19:13:31 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/p07zu/what_is_everyones_preferred_editor/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 340 milliseconds ago Having pylint on F1 in python-mode is nice (though I keep meaning to sit down and try pyflakes + flymake for "no click" syntax checking...) The other win of emacs is that you not only can you have have a python-subprocess buffer to dynamically throw code at... you can use PyMacs to write emacs extensions in Python instead of elisp. (After all, you can only use elisp code in emacs, you can use python code everywhere, so you'll eventually be better at python than elisp - or you started out that way :-)
2012-01-28
- About:
Prof. Thrun gave up his tenure at Stanford and started Udacity : aiclass
- When:
Fri Jan 27 22:24:47 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/oszv0/prof_thrun_gave_up_his_tenure_at_stanford_and/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 66 milliseconds ago also, go to http://www.wonderwhy-er.com/ai-class and hit "expand all" and search on "particle" - you can probably just dive right in to unit 11, though skipping forward to part 24 will get you to the specifics. (wonderwhy-er links straight to youtube.) permalink parent edit delete reply
2012-01-27
- About:
Sebastian Thrun discussing ai-class, Udacityat DLD : aiclass
- When:
Fri Jan 27 17:12:42 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/otwdx/sebastian_thrun_discussing_aiclass_udacityat_dld/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 4 seconds ago You can look elsewhere on this reddit for more detailed breakdowns of the numbers, but "completion" meant "finish all homeworks, midterm and final" if you were on the "graded" track, and I think "take all the lecture-quizzes" (showing that you'd actually made it through the lectures) for the non-graded track. As for the homework assignments themselves, the early ones had a lot of pointless difficulty (places where you could lose all points due to a +1/-1 fencepost condition that could have been made unambiguous with one reference example... they actually did end up posting clarifications [and extensions] often enough that starting late was a good idea even if you had a higher risk of hitting a server outage :-) Later homework was a lot better about being honestly challenging, in a "can you apply the material" sort of way. (I spent 4 to 8 hours/week on them either way - I just got more frustrated by the early ones :-) I think some of this is what Thrun means when he talks about "teaching it like a weeder class" in the DLD video...
- About:
Help me come up with interesting ways to introduce embedded C developers to Python : Python
- When:
Fri Jan 27 16:21:31 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/oysa9/help_me_come_up_with_interesting_ways_to/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 1 second ago Don't underestimate the value of simply showing off strings. (The best description I've heard of string handling in C is "trying to do surface mount soldering with a forklift" :-) Also, pyusb and pyserial are nice if you want to show off "poking at real hardware" without going too deep...
2012-01-25
- About:
cjsmith: I only wish it were this "bad"!
- When:
Wed Jan 25 01:32:15 2012
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/1001490.html#t10568210
- What:
- 2012-01-25 06:32 am UTC Check link Collapse Delete Track Edit sounds sort of like Unified... "but goopier" :-)
2012-01-24
- About:
cjsmith: I only wish it were this "bad"!
- When:
Tue Jan 24 10:30:02 2012
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/1001490.html#t10566162
- What:
- 2012-01-24 03:29 pm UTC Check link Collapse Delete Track Edit Is it a new curriculum, or new faculty, or something like that? If it was also this broken last term and nothing changed... (Being (effectively) a beta tester for the first Stanford on-line AI class was fun, but it was (1) *free* (2) pretty easy except for the statistics part; doing it for your actual *career* sounds like Not Any Fun At All.)
- About:
Hi r/python. I'm trying to write a script that will hyperlink files of to a spreadsheet cell automatically. Can somebody point me in the right direction? : Python
- When:
Tue Jan 24 00:34:39 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/otuor/hi_rpython_im_trying_to_write_a_script_that_will/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 790 milliseconds ago xlrd to read the info, xlwt to write out a new combined one; example shows "Adding a Hyperlink to a Cell" about halfway down the page... (it's been a couple of years since I've used them myself, but at the time they were very useful...) permalink edit delete reply
- About:
Are there are videos/lectures explaining the linguistic theory behind Python's NLTK? : Python
- When:
Sun Jan 22 23:27:46 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/ooa47/are_there_are_videoslectures_explaining_the/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 1 second ago There have been a couple of pycon talks (single 1 hour lectures) on NLTK, you should find them hosted on blip.tv, like this one: http://blip.tv/pycon-us-videos-2009-2010-2011/pycon-2010-the-python-and-the-elephant-large-scale-natural-language-processing-with-nltk-and-dumbo-120-3279057
2012-01-13
- About:
Who says Android users don't buy apps? We did a quick look into our (Read It Later) holiday downloads and found that myth doesn't hold up : Android
- When:
Thu Jan 12 23:29:40 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/oefdv/who_says_android_users_dont_buy_apps_we_did_a/
- What:
- point 128 milliseconds ago Instafetch, actually (I still use the lite version, mostly because the pro one didn't add anything interesting when I first got it - though now that I look again, the EverNote integration might be worth the trouble.) Instafetch, actually (I still use the lite version, mostly because the pro one didn't add anything interesting when I first got it - though now that I look again, the EverNote integration might be worth the trouble.) formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" ~~strikethrough~~ strikethrough super^script superscript * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2012-01-11
- About:
The one thing that would get everyone on the self driving car bandwagon. : aiclass
- When:
Tue Jan 10 19:40:07 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/ob22q/the_one_thing_that_would_get_everyone_on_the_self/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 756 milliseconds ago I'm all for "killing fewer people" as the main goal - they don't even have to be very good self-driving cars to achieve that :-) But let's also add "making electric cars practical" - when your car can drop you at the office, drive to a charging lot (possibly a denser one, since it doesn't need room for people to get in and out) and swing back and get you on the way home... Sure, public transit is a "better" answer, but I'm talking about America... "making cities more practical" (that might be a negative, to some :-) by allowing your parking to be slightly out of town, or somewhere otherwise inconvenient...
2012-01-09
- About:
Using NLTK to analyze US Politicians Twitter Feeds : Python
- When:
Mon Jan 9 00:56:36 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/o83pg/using_nltk_to_analyze_us_politicians_twitter_feeds/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 121 milliseconds ago I brought a related point up on r/aiclass and yes, you can blast out some python code that works - but if you can take the time to learn to use NLTK for these standard things, you can take advantage of the other tools that NLTK gives you (like FreqDist.plot or deciding that LaplaceProbDist fits the problem better), plus you get the added benefit that someone else looking at your code can tell more quickly (and convincingly) what's going on - "Oh, that's Lidstone smoothing" vs. "Hmm, the comments say that's a well known smoothing technique, I wonder if it really is..."
2012-01-08
- About:
Reportlab: Converting Hundreds of Images Into PDFs : Python
- When:
Sun Jan 8 01:23:17 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/o7ehf/reportlab_converting_hundreds_of_images_into_pdfs/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 93 milliseconds ago My first thought was that this looks like a lot of work compared to the old standby, ImageMagick: convert *.jpg comic.pdf and even with the "treat filenames as fields" issue, it's still "merely" convert jia_??.jpg jia_???.jpg comic.pdf But I'm in the middle of a project to produce a little image-heavy partly auto-generated magazinelet, where OpenOffice was just wrong, wkhtmltopdf failed on background images, Scribus UI made me consider scissors and tape as an alternative, TeX wasn't (sanely) programmable enough, and I'd finally started coding something up using the Cairo python bindings and cairo.PDFSurface and actually got a first full draft produced, though it takes seconds per page... and I see this post, and vaguely recall seeing a reportlab based conference-program generator at EuroPython years and years ago... the end result: the reportlab API matches very closely the one I'd wrapped around Cairo, so it was a quick conversion the reportlab version of the tool is around fifty times faster than the Cairo version (that may yet turn out to be my fault, but wow does that make a difference to my iteration cycle.) So, thanks for posting about it! permalink edit delete reply
2012-01-06
- About:
I made a module which checks for new published webcomics and loads them if u haven't read them. : Python
- When:
Thu Jan 5 23:40:07 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/o2guf/i_made_a_module_which_checks_for_new_published/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 89 milliseconds ago When I last poked at this problem I had around 60 "general" cases (variants on /comics, /strips, and /archive, for starters) with a few helpers (for some sites, the comic is the image with the alt text that matches a regexp); actual per-comic regexps were a last resort. Handled about 250 comics at the peak (which worked better than you might think, since I just had a browser bookmark pointing at the queue output by the checker, so I "always" had another comic to read, and it would just cycle around if I fell behind.) You might also find that there are comic hosting sites like keenspace where all of the comics match a common regexp; giving that regexp a name, in your module, would be a good convenience for your users. These days I just use piperka which mostly has the value of making it someone else's problem :-) What I really wanted to do was something that learned when a page updated; either through training (and hints from a human) or just lots of scripting... and would also find patterns like "this comic updates at midnight every day, don't bother checking it more than that"... permalink edit delete reply
- About:
About that torrent of all the class videos... : aiclass
- When:
Thu Jan 5 23:23:12 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/o41ss/about_that_torrent_of_all_the_class_videos/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 429 milliseconds ago I've been at completion for a day or so, but have been getting a lot of errors like "[ :211] Tracker: [Unable to connect to UDP tracker.]" which sometimes reduce the amount of traffic - anything better than rtorrent for further seeding, now that I have the whole thing? (or is bittorrent just more sensitive to the trackers than I would expect for a useful peer-to-peer protocol?)
2012-01-01
- About:
If I wanted to pose a question and needed to post training images or saved SVM models or pickled neural nets for reference, where would be a good place to post it? : Python
- When:
Sun Jan 1 17:45:57 2012
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/nvmkk/if_i_wanted_to_pose_a_question_and_needed_to_post/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 65 milliseconds ago Pickles are not just strings (they're effectively code, not data) and they're also binary data (in modes 1 and 2) so less likely to survive in text-posting environments. (Also, unless it's merely a python-performance question, it sounds like a question for which r/python might be too narrow of an audience; r/aiclass, for example, might be more useful and/or interested. But since you haven't actually asked the question...) permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
I guess this is a bad time to try appinvetor : Android
- When:
Sat Dec 31 23:16:49 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/ny2t0/i_guess_this_is_a_bad_time_to_try_appinvetor/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 33 milliseconds ago I was surprised at how far you could get with this particular version of visual programming - the dynamic creation of "jigsaw puzzle pieces" to match the objects you're trying to manipulate it is nice - but once you're about three days of experimentation in, you hit a wall where 2D just isn't useful, even with a "procedure" object. That said, the "visual language" has a pretty obvious mapping to text, it's not actually fundamentally visual; this representation isn't the saved XML from appinventor - and it certainly isn't Java :-) That representation would be an interesting rapid application development language for android apps, and once there's actually an open source version of the system, it would be interesting to try to put it together. permalink edit delete reply
2011-12-31
- About:
If I wanted to pose a question and needed to post training images or saved SVM models or pickled neural nets for reference, where would be a good place to post it? : Python
- When:
Sat Dec 31 17:05:02 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/nvmkk/if_i_wanted_to_pose_a_question_and_needed_to_post/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 491 milliseconds ago Pickles are not for sharing - if nothing else, they're python-specific; just use json instead, it's portable enough. But how much data are you talking about? json is a text format, you might just use google docs for that... but if it's not enormous, gist.github.com even has a JSON display option (though I don't see an explicit size limit on gist... in fact, I don't see any documentation at all :-)
2011-12-29
- About:
Here's my List of 7 Lesser Known Applications. What's your list /r/Android? : Android
- When:
Wed Dec 28 20:09:48 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/ntqlf/heres_my_list_of_7_lesser_known_applications/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 76 milliseconds ago For non-rooted users - I recommend rooting, even if Titanium Backup is the only thing you do it for. As far as I can tell there's a bunch of stuff Titanium Backup gets right that you can't do without elevated privileges (this is true of backups on most operating systems, actually.) permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-12-27
- About:
A Torrent of all the class videos : aiclass
- When:
Tue Dec 27 02:20:39 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nlmn2/a_torrent_of_all_the_class_videos/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 594 milliseconds ago Just based on checking in on rtorrent every so often, it seems like the real problem is that it keeps dropping to zero trackers... I'm in the US, but usually have good connectivity to Sweden... permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-12-25
- About:
subrprocess questions : Python
- When:
Sun Dec 25 16:46:02 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/noajz/subrprocess_questions/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 58 milliseconds ago Note that this is fundamentally a Unix question, not a python one; that's much of the reason the subprocess documentation is insufficient. The first question to ask yourself is whether you want to look at that data on the fly, or only look at it once the child has completed. If you can wait for completion, and especially if you only care about it if the child ran successfully, then you can just subprocess.check_call([cmd...], stdout=file(outputname)) which will throw an exception if cmd fails, and if it doesn't, you can open outputname again and chew on it as desired. If you want to do something else while it's running (check_call and call don't return until the child does), but the above is still otherwise true - then use Popen, and check every so often with .poll() to see if it is done; you can enhance that with a signal.SIGCHLD handler, depending on how complicated the rest of your code is, to notice immediately when the child is done and then poll/wait on it. (You need to "collect" the exit status, or the kernel will keep the process-remnant around as a "Zombie" until you do, or you exit...) If you want to process the data while it's coming in, then you can go in a couple of different directions. If all you want to do is chew on it as it goes by, and do nothing else until it's done - then stdout=subprocess.PIPE and a for loop over .stdout as described by Da_blitz below works just fine. If you have other things to do as well, you need to learn about select and/or poll, and have an event loop that wakes up when any of the things you want to do actually happens... permalink edit delete reply
- About:
subrprocess questions : Python
- When:
Sun Dec 25 16:29:27 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/noajz/subrprocess_questions/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 95 milliseconds ago "don't think it flushes" -- betrays a bit of confusion... you don't control that at all from your code; it's entirely up to the process performing the output (find in this case) to flush or not. Unix convention is to flush lines when output is a tty, and to buffer large blocks when it is not, for efficiency (though see the stdbuf command for ways to subvert that.) As for getting emptied: any buffering find is doing will get flushed [or discarded] when find exits; then the kernel's buffer for the pipe itself will also get flushed, so your code as the reader will get that content and then and end-of-file (if you're using file.read that'll be an empty string, if you're using the iterator it'll be a StopIteration...) permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
python-tail; Unix tail follow implementation in Python : Python
- When:
Sun Dec 25 15:56:25 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/nq84d/pythontail_unix_tail_follow_implementation_in/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 265 milliseconds ago (3) don't want to use file I run across this all the time with file and string... the best trick I've found is to think about what you'd call it if you had two of them :-) So I wouldn't use file_name (especially since it's the object, not the name) but something like following or lines... it'll communicate more. (and then I'd use file() instead of open() once it wasn't a near-collision...) 1) All new classes should inherit from object isn't that implicit in Python 3? permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-12-24
- About:
What is the cutoff for 10%? And other people's experience of the class certificate? : aiclass
- When:
Sat Dec 24 18:34:26 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nmcid/what_is_the_cutoff_for_10_and_other_peoples/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 84 milliseconds ago I recall the Calculus II Achievement tests (SAT-related tests for particular areas) used for college admissions scoring were like this - everyone taking it had done AP Calculus as well, so even a perfect score only put you in the 10th or 15th percentile :-) permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
What is the cutoff for 10%? And other people's experience of the class certificate? : aiclass
- When:
Sat Dec 24 18:24:00 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nmcid/what_is_the_cutoff_for_10_and_other_peoples/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 77 milliseconds ago Keep the PDF file, yes. Looks like you should be able to verify the signature by grabbing JSignPDF and unpacking the zip file, then running java -jar jsignpdf-1.2.5/Verifier.jar ./letter*_signed.pdf that, however, will just give you a bunch of raw output including Cannot be verified against the KeyStore or the certificate chain so perhaps someone else can chime in on how to actually get the ai class cert installed somewhere that the program will use it... permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
AI / ML: What's Next - Startups... : aiclass
- When:
Sat Dec 24 17:09:52 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nntqd/ai_ml_whats_next_startups/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 79 milliseconds ago All of that... plus, "use a technology" isn't actually a useful basis for anything, except maybe a "lifestyle business" where the goal is "keep a couple of people busy in this space because we like it" (there are some examples of this in AI, but the first skill there is "understands how to get DARPA funding for more experiments in this space", actually doing the AI work comes second :-) A given technology can be a great tool, but a startup is fundamentally a business - it's not enough to want to do something, you need to have a customer in mind. Otherwise it's a hobby... permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
What about employment in Europe? Other countries? : aiclass
- When:
Sat Dec 24 15:26:27 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nnvrz/what_about_employment_in_europe_other_countries/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 89 milliseconds ago The probability-based methods apply to anyone doing search - or, for that matter, advertising - my (ex-MetaCarta) group at Nokia does geographic search, and while the main NLP team is in Boston, part of it is in Berlin as well. (Personally, I work in release engineering and tools, not AI - but about halfway through the course I'd already had several "Oh that's what they were talking about" moments :-) The big difference between the US and Europe as far as AI jobs is probably the difference in jobs in general - in the US, you can practically start a company by accident, I understand it's much more complex in Europe. So over here it's much more easy to turn a new idea into a company (and product) - so we end up with things like http://www.netflixprize.com/ where a video rental company turns out to have a need for significant probabilistic AI... It's certainly the case that an invitation like this feels very flattering - and it wouldn't surprise me if "this was a student of mine this term" counts for something among the people you'd actually interview with. But simply finishing the class shows a level of skill (and perhaps more distinctively attention span) that should be of interest to a broad range of high-tech employers. You should be able to work backwards from products to the employers who are interested in this sort of thing (Festo is a notable German robotics company, for example) though a simple google search mostly finds academic positions and Kraftwerk songs :-) permalink edit delete reply
2011-12-21
- About:
Results of the final are out! How did everyone do? : aiclass
- When:
Wed Dec 21 16:10:36 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nj4pz/results_of_the_final_are_out_how_did_everyone_do/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 33 seconds ago Found the references I was looking for. Turns out that Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 of AIMA cover key things like the difference between P(A) and P(A) which makes a lot of the lectures make more sense (not that they ever write it bold, but it makes it clear that there really is "this other thing that looks like P()" and it's not handwaving.) (Also, Pearl 1985 is surprisingly readable...) Found the references I was looking for. Turns out that Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 of AIMA cover key things like the difference between P(A) and __P__(A) which makes a lot of the lectures make more sense (not that they ever *write* it bold, but it makes it clear that there really is "this other thing that looks like P()" and it's not handwaving.) (Also, [Pearl 1985](http://ftp.cs.ucla.edu/tech-report/198_-reports/850017.pdf) is surprisingly readable...) formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" ~~strikethrough~~ strikethrough super^script superscript * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Unfortunate Python - A bunch of things to avoid now that there are better alternatives : Python
- When:
Wed Dec 21 15:47:30 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/nj00d/unfortunate_python_a_bunch_of_things_to_avoid_now/
- What:
- * [+]_Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 606 milliseconds ago (0 children) [–]_Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 606 milliseconds ago The subtle implications are there anyway; most of the perl (and sh) code I've ported to python didn't actually handle them any better, the code was just wrong, and the explicitness exposed existing bugs. There is overhead (though check_call and such help) and there's certainly room for a wrapper on top of subprocess - but I find it very helpful that subprocess (by taking an array) makes it much easier to get quoting right, vs. the "easy" os.popen case that usually gets it entirely wrong... The subtle implications are there anyway; most of the perl (and sh) code I've ported to python didn't actually handle them any better, the code was just wrong, and the explicitness exposed existing bugs. There is overhead (though check_call and such help) and there's certainly room for a wrapper on top of subprocess - but I find it very helpful that subprocess (by taking an array) makes it much easier to get quoting right, vs. the "easy" os.popen case that usually gets it entirely wrong... formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" ~~strikethrough~~ strikethrough super^script superscript * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2011-12-20
- About:
22. Natural Language Processing : aiclass
- When:
Tue Dec 20 09:23:00 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/njrbe/22_natural_language_processing/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 84 milliseconds ago For a look at some hands on NLP, http://blip.tv/pycon-us-videos-2009-2010-2011/pycon-2011-how-to-kill-a-patent-with-python-4897800 is Van Lindberg's talk on using nltk on the patent database, to do citation and prior art analysis... at very least it's a good source of inspiration, in terms of identifying a really ambitious problem that can be attacked with these techniques. permalink edit delete reply
- About:
How do I experiment with robotics? : aiclass
- When:
Mon Dec 19 23:32:37 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/njfaf/how_do_i_experiment_with_robotics/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 242 milliseconds ago For simple rover-with-camera, http://www.roboteducation.org/ is Georgia Tech's teaching bot hardware, with curriculum in python; hardware and textbook on amazon, or were when I picked up a set after seeing them at PyCon two years back... http://www.hizook.com/blog/2009/12/20/ultra-low-cost-laser-rangefinders-actualized-neato-robotics has description and links to papers on a $30 laser rangefinder you can build; the design is used in the Neato robot-vacuum (which has a dev kit itself, too) There's also the iRobot Create (serial-controlled mobile platform with bumpers, a couple of IR proximity sensors, and wheel-rotation counters - nothing vision based, but a big empty bay you can mount stuff in; for that matter, any of the later model Roombas take serial over a mini-DIN connector that you can use to drive them around :-) For arduino, you might particularly want the http://www.ladyada.net/make/mshield/ "Motor Shield" to interface to motors... One thing I want to try is to take a couple of those cheap pager-motor RC cars, hook the transmitters (probably via an arduino) to a real PC, and then point a webcam at the cars... and use OpenCV to watch them and "learn" how to navigate them. If you already have a webcam and some of the toy cars, you could get started pretty cheaply... permalink edit delete reply
- About:
messages: unread
- When:
Mon Dec 19 23:05:57 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/message/unread/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 66 milliseconds ago Oh, yes - but I spent an hour or two beating on the code until it gave the right answer too. (Probably learned more about maze-finding from that mistake than any of the homework, come to think of it :-) permalink parent edit delete reply
- About:
Results of the final are out! How did everyone do? : aiclass
- When:
Mon Dec 19 22:53:59 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nj4pz/results_of_the_final_are_out_how_did_everyone_do/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 60 milliseconds ago I think I did pretty well given that it was the first exam I've taken in over two decades :-) (It's also the first exam I've ever heard of where the first problem starts with "If this is unfamilar, just google it" :-) Q2, bayes network - my first and second tries were both wrong - I've had trouble with those through the whole course, because they've been visual and "intuitive"; anyone have a reference with some rigor? (Should I just go to the source - Judea Pearl 1985 - or is there something more widely used?) Q6 - worked it out just fine, normalized properly, used probabilities-sum-to-one correctly... and never double checked my reading of the question, so I did all the arithmetic both times with P(White-measured|White)=0.8 instead of 0.6 :-( embarassing, but I'll count it as a good exam-taking lesson for the spring courses (PGM at least, if there isn't more AI or robotics :-)
- About:
TIL I can't count. : aiclass
- When:
Mon Dec 19 22:36:09 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/nj920/til_i_cant_count/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 55 milliseconds ago I actually coded it up when I was going back and checking my answers the second day - and while I'd gotten the 19 path by hand, my program refused to :-) (basically, you can't prune on "I've already hit that square with a better score" when your paths can cross. Including orientation in the score-history fixes it...) permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-12-13
- About:
Bug #554984 in xserver-xorg-input-evdev (Ubuntu): “[lucid] enable trackpoint scroll emulation by default”
- When:
Tue Dec 13 11:50:20 2011
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-evdev/+bug/554984
- What:
- Mark Eichin (eichin-gmail) wrote a moment ago: #16 Argh, I finally found and identified this. "The control-middle-button menu in xterm doesn't work anymore" should find this bug; I wasted a bit of time assuming it was xterm-specific (xterm has had active development, much to my surprise.) Is there a proper way to turn this override off other than editing/deleting /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/11-evdev-trackpoint.conf itself? (Alternatively, a matching "how to get the xterm menu back" bug would probably be useful...)
2011-12-12
- About:
I could spend hours just watching Sebastian's self driving car : aiclass
- When:
Sun Dec 11 21:50:17 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/n8hof/i_could_spend_hours_just_watching_sebastians_self/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 269 milliseconds ago http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8594517128412883394 for a detailed talk on the challenge; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zS3st_7og3A for the path-planning examples for various real cars...
- About:
Planning and Car Racing Games : aiclass
- When:
Sun Dec 11 21:19:33 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/n8vwa/planning_and_car_racing_games/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 158 milliseconds ago I vaguely recall an article on game AI (which is certainly a field in and of itself) that suggested that planning algorithms weren't the problem - efficiently "sensing" the environment was - just because you have it all doesn't mean you can do everything you might want efficiently (especially when keeping frame-rate up has higher priority.) Line-of-sight calculations are actually expensive, collision modelling with actually shapes (volumes) is a lot more expensive than just points-on-the-ground, that sort of thing.
- About:
HP to launch another Touchpad fire sale this weekend, because it's cold outside (updated) -- Engadget
- When:
Sun Dec 11 19:34:27 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/08/hp-to-launch-another-touchpad-fire-sale-this-weekend-because-it/#disqus_thread
- What:
- Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago in reply to Mark Eichin Took a half an hour to get payments.ebay to actually respond, insist on a phone number for my shipping address, and then fail anyway with " errorAn item in your cart is not available You missed out this time, but there are still more great deals out there". "HP: Try amazon next time" :-) Report Edit Reply
- About:
Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, LTE probably won't work -- Engadget
- When:
Sun Dec 11 19:13:12 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/11/wherever-i-wander-wherever-i-roam-lte-probably-wont-work/
- What:
- Report + 8 Reply Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago in reply to stevos Remember token ring? or chaosnet? there *were* proprietary versions of those technologies, but network effects meant that winning was possible. Those forces are... broken, or at least somewhat distorted, by the fact that there's underlying "telephone level" connectivity, so a "strange" phone won't actually *lose*, because you can still call everyone...
- About:
HP to launch another Touchpad fire sale this weekend, because it's cold outside (updated) -- Engadget
- When:
Sun Dec 11 19:07:45 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/08/hp-to-launch-another-touchpad-fire-sale-this-weekend-because-it/
- What:
- Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" - it's 2011, I didn't think a flash-sale like this *could* take out a modern web service, especially one with at the scale of eBay. (Looks like payments.ebay is the actual bottleneck...)
2011-12-08
- About:
What about the 'human touch'? : aiclass
- When:
Thu Dec 8 03:33:21 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/n3p4w/what_about_the_human_touch/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 61 milliseconds ago Also, consider fatigue and attention span; a self-driving vehicle isn't using organic parts to observe, so it's going to have consistent response. (Also consider that the human mind can't keep up with what it sees - and doesn't try; it fakes it, by editing observations into the recollection - there are some great demonstrations of this - and it's why personal accounts of accidents are often nonsensical, hearing and seeing aren't strictly ordered...) One of the reasons robot cars are practically inevitable is that humans are so bad at the job of driving (based both on physiology and on the road fatality statistics) that it won't take all that much more work for robots to outperform us anyway :-)
- About:
Amateur Robotics : aiclass
- When:
Thu Dec 8 03:20:52 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/n32r8/amateur_robotics/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 93 milliseconds ago Computer vision: look at OpenCV, the examples include some basic object finding, and it should talk to your eeepc camera without trying. (You may want to put debian on it to get modern packages though, rather than trying to work with the weird xandros-based thing asus shipped.) Also look at http://www.ros.org/ for an enormous collection of robot code. If you just want motors-on-usb, an arduino with a Motor Shield http://www.ladyada.net/make/mshield/ is straightforward, especially if you're scavenging the motors. Another alternative is to keep the computer parts "offboard" - you can get a bluetooth frob that drives the serial control port on a roomba or irobot-create, leave the computer on a nearby desk and let it watch the roomba and give commands to it. OpenCV should be able to do most of the work for tracking, and if the bot crashes, you don't risk the computer... Another version of that approach is the Georgia Tech kit from http://www.roboteducation.org/ - actually their MyRO library talks to a bunch of different kit robots, and their text book will take you through practical sensor and motion exercises...
- About:
How to Verify Steam Game Cache Integrity | Windows 7 Themes
- When:
Thu Dec 8 00:49:40 2011
- Where:
http://windows7themes.net/how-to-verify-steam-game-cache-integrity.html#comment-221095
- What:
- _Mark_ said: Your comment is awaiting moderation. December 8, 2011 at 7:49 am Thanks for pointing this out – Portal 2 was crashing, reliably (a dozen times at least), every time I let go of a “discouragement redirection cube” – windows 7 sp1, 64 bit – and “Verify Integrity” found one bad item which it said it would “reacquire”. The game worked perfectly after that. I didn’t expect a game platform to include an fsck tool :-)
2011-11-30
- About:
The Things I Hate About IDLE That I Wish Someone Would Fix : Python
- When:
Wed Nov 30 00:06:43 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/mtnbr/the_things_i_hate_about_idle_that_i_wish_someone/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 118 milliseconds ago Using flymake with pylint is popular; there's also pymacs, basically a foreign-function-interface between emacs-lisp and a child python interpreter - so you can extend emacs directly in python - not something that specifically helps for python development, but something that makes emacs more attractive for python developers... permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-11-28
- About:
Woot: The Community: Woots: Spy Net Recording Night Vision Goggles
- When:
Mon Nov 28 01:24:28 2011
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4732172&PageIndex=3&ReplyCount=80#post4732352
- What:
- I've got an older pair of EyeClops goggles, which I'd been meaning to dismantle and mount a camera in... so these arrive just in time :-) Don't forget that these are particularly useful for diagnosing infrared remotes and motion sensors and the like - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RqT0X5eYPE shows a Roomba, through an EyeClops, you can see the various range sensors (so you can tell if one of the wall-following sensors needs replacement, if it's dim or absent.) The trick is to cover the emitters on the EyeClops itself, so they don't wash out the light emitted from the gadget you're looking at. (In for two.)
2011-11-27
- About:
Templar, Arizona » Archive » Chapter 5: Lit, page 129.
- When:
Sat Nov 26 23:46:03 2011
- Where:
http://templaraz.com/2011/11/18/chapter-5-lit-page-129/comment-page-1/#comment-22681
- What:
- _Mark_ Your comment is awaiting moderation. November 26, 2011 at 11:46 pm > I kinda like the new storyline: Random Arizona Death Match. Misread that as “Death March” *imagines Ben finishing with EJ, taking a deep breath, and then proceeding to just up and slaughter the rest of the town* Final scene, Ben on phone to shrink, “I think I should come home now”
2011-11-25
- About:
Journalist looking to interview AI class students from all over the world : aiclass
- When:
Thu Nov 24 20:37:40 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/mnpgs/journalist_looking_to_interview_ai_class_students/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 128 milliseconds ago But a normal college midterm isn't "you have 72 hours and convenient access to recordings of all of the lectures"... and this particular midterm didn't really have difficult extrapolations from the material - just "can you apply the material". There's certainly a lot of it, and the after-the-last-minute clarifications certainly didn't help, but a normal college midterm isn't really a good point of comparison... permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-11-18
- About:
My Implementations of Homework 5 with Source Code, Interactivity and Explanations : aiclass
- When:
Fri Nov 18 02:23:07 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/mftlp/my_implementations_of_homework_5_with_source_code/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 82 milliseconds ago only been considering the usefulness for the states provided That's not necessary - simply finding more usefulness in a single state is enough to show "more" usefulness - you're not trying to find ideal or complete or absolute usefulness. Adding lots of states for which both are equally bad doesn't make it not superior.
- About:
Simple clustering solution? : Python
- When:
Thu Nov 17 22:33:04 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/mgcx8/simple_clustering_solution/
- What:
- As for the livecd, you might be thinking of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud installer; https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/server-maverick-uec-liveusb has some breadcrumbs, I haven't followed it in a while (that link predates the switch to OpenStack, for example.) (For 3 machines, I'd suggest just copying subsets of your data around first, then looking for more clever approaches while it's running :-)
2011-11-11
- About:
Terry Jones » Blog Archive » The eighty six non-trivial powers ≤ 2^20
- When:
Thu Nov 10 23:00:51 2011
- Where:
http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry/2011/03/30/the-eighty-six-non-trivial-powers-220/#disqus_thread
- What:
- Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago I've used the term "Computational Numerology" for this kind of analysis; I once solved a locking problem by noticing (via strace) a call to sleep(4294967) and recognizing what it had to be. (I'll follow up with the result later...)
- About:
Terry Jones » Blog Archive » Emacs buffer mode histogram
- When:
Thu Nov 10 22:35:59 2011
- Where:
http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry/2011/11/10/emacs-buffer-mode-histogram/
- What:
- Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago Neat idea, saw it on python planet; reminded me that while I've hacked in elisp almost-literally forever, python is my language of choice (and greatest ease), and I'd recently decided to start making more use of pymacs, since I always have it around (at least on Debian and Ubuntu boxes), to overcome the friction I find in elisp... cribbing from some older pymacs code of mine and just looking at your output, it took me less time to come up with a pymacs version than it did to write this comment. (Not trying to brag :-) just noting that it really is that frictionless compared to elisp.) To load it, if you have pymacs, just M-: (pymacs-load "mode-stats") and the m-x mode-stats-mode-stats RET to actually run it. Assuming disqus doesn't mangle this, I'm curious if you find it more readable; the lisp "module" basically gives you everything elisp side, and there's some complexity regarding data being python-side or emacs-side, plus there can be issues regarding shovelling large objects back and forth. But for things where elisp is weirdly limiting, I find it a nice approach... 11 Fundamental *********** 2 Python ** 2 Man ** 1 Shell * 1 Lisp Interaction * 1 Help * 1 Zephyr * 1 Completion List * 1 Dired by name * 1 Apropos * #!/usr/bin/python # (pymacs-load (expand-file-name "~/elisp/mode-stats")) from Pymacs import lisp from collections import defaultdict def mode_stats(): stats = defaultdict(int) for buf in lisp.buffer_list(): stats[lisp.buffer_local_value(lisp.intern("mode-name"), buf)] += 1 outbuf = lisp.get_buffer_create("*mode-stats*") lisp.set_buffer(outbuf) lisp.erase_buffer() for bufname in sorted(stats, key=lambda x: stats[x], reverse=True): lisp.insert("%3d %-15s %s\n" % (stats[bufname], bufname, "*" * stats[bufname])) lisp.goto_char(0) lisp.switch_to_buffer(outbuf) interactions = {mode_stats: ""} Flag
- About:
Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-3D1: dual lenses, 12 megapixel sensors -- Engadget
- When:
Mon Nov 7 00:28:27 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/panasonic-announces-lumix-dmc-3d1-dual-lenses-12-megapixel-sen/
- What:
- Interesting that it uses the same style of wide lens-cover slider that the Fuji W3 does... but sticks the lenses uselessly close together. (On the Fuji it makes sense because the lenses are on the far left and right sides of the camera - it takes some effort to find a grip that works without getting a finger in one of the lenses, which "destroys" an image far more than it does in the 2D case.) It actually sounds like the mixed-focal length modes are hedging against having 3d basically not be useful at all :-)
2011-11-06
- About:
Python 3.x Programming on my Android. Is it possible? : Python
- When:
Sun Nov 6 01:06:22 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/m21vp/python_3x_programming_on_my_android_is_it_possible/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 86 milliseconds ago http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ gets you "Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, JavaScript, Tcl, and shell"; I've used it for python in particular. http://code.google.com/p/python-for-android/issues/detail?id=10 looks like it covers python 3 support...
- About:
I'm considering using pyjamas to adapt a 'C' curses desktop app to run a browser. Any suggestions? : Python
- When:
Sat Nov 5 23:29:52 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/m21jl/im_considering_using_pyjamas_to_adapt_a_c_curses/
- What:
- http://www.clifford.at/stfl/ might be a good source of hints - it's a curses toolkit, with support for lots of languages, that also has "expose this as a WEB UI"; doesn't help exactly, since you're starting from legacy c-curses code, but might have some useful components...
- About:
Tricks to download the Homework videos? : aiclass
- When:
Sat Nov 5 20:45:11 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/m1x5a/tricks_to_download_the_homework_videos/
- What:
- Tricks to download the Homework videos? (self.aiclass) submitted 33 seconds ago by _Mark_ I use youtube-dl -c --write-description --write-info-json -tA --match-title "^Unit 4" 'http://www.youtube.com/user/knowitvideos#p/u' (for example) to download the relevant subset of videos for the given unit, so I can watch them offline, and post the quiz answers later. This doesn't work for the homework, until after it's due, because the davidknowlabs user that uploads the ones pointed to from the site isn't listable. Before I sit down and use twill to pick out the homework videos (time better spent doing the homework!) has anyone found an easier way to get youtube to cough up the homework videos all-at-once? (Usually I have plenty of bandwidth available to watch from the site directly, but the last three weeks I've been traveling right now I can't get to ai-class.com to get at the homework I realized that being mostly-offline, I was rather less distracted by the net, and able to focus on the content more, and that I should continue to work this way :-) Ideas? (Perhaps I should just ask davidknowlabs to change some setting on his account?) comment edit share save hide delete nsfw
- About:
Wrote a private package index (i.e. private cheeseshop). Still early "beta". Tell me what you think. : Python
- When:
Sat Nov 5 20:08:02 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/m06fd/wrote_a_private_package_index_ie_private/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 74 milliseconds ago Hmm, while I agree that a public pypi probably shouldn't allow deletion, an actively used private one is probably getting packages pushed to it by the continuous builder, and should have an expiration mechanism, though the actual mechanism is a policy choice (I could see something like "keep all incrementals until two named/numbered releases have gone out" being a good start...) Thanks for the comparison, and for the effort you've put in on documentation. permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-10-31
- About:
Hey, r/Python, how marketable is knowing Python? : Python
- When:
Mon Oct 31 00:51:22 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/lun42/hey_rpython_how_marketable_is_knowing_python/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 782 milliseconds ago No idea, but mine certainly isn't :-) Lots of unix toolsmithing for release engineering (and svn-wrangling in particular.) The closest to "web" python I get is code that automates configuring Jenkins jobs, or updates twiki pages and jira tickets with things like "this build succeeded and these revisions closed those tickets". More often it's things like "now that we've branched, fix all of the scm pointers in these maven pom.xml files" (maven has a lot of stupid in it, but three different version control pointers per directory? Really?) And that ignores the "product" side where we used to have a lot of "C++ for speed, python on top for flexibility", though these days there's more "Java because we're inside lucene/solr", jython hasn't really caught on for that. permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-10-30
- About:
TRK - In a month!?
- When:
Sun Oct 30 11:01:36 2011
- Where:
http://therealkatie.net/blog/2011/oct/25/month/
- What:
- 5 Mark Eichin says... Back in 2004 I set up nanowrimo-inspired codemonth.org (pointed it at codemonth.livejournal.com out of laziness in getting a forum up.) Trying to be the inspiration/motivator for a community turns out not to be my thing, and I haven't tried to push it since 2008. If you'd like to "hijack" the livejournal community or would like me to point the domain somewhere, I'd be happy to; I'd enjoy doing this again, though most of my spare time is being absorbed by that Stanford free AI class... Posted at 6 p.m. on October 30, 2011
2011-10-18
- About:
Homework 1, Question 7, A* Search ANSWER - YouTube
- When:
Mon Oct 17 23:26:40 2011
- Where:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E_cgCgNaJ9Q
- What:
- @captquazar Unit 2, video 23, "A* Search" - Norvig states, in the first fifteen seconds, f = g + h and then goes on to explain g and h... markeichin 11 seconds ago
- About:
How'd your homework go? : aiclass
- When:
Mon Oct 17 23:13:55 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/lfq1g/howd_your_homework_go/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 194 milliseconds ago It's funny, after all of the clarifications and reclarifications, I concluded that it actually mattered that the AI formulation involves expanding the frontier and then sorting and visiting (which it does, if you want to understand later more sophisticated searches) and then in the review he goes and does simple CS-style direct node walk-and-count anyway. (of course, the subtleties don't matter when you miss the easy part - "count both the start node and the end node" - so all of my counts were off by one :-} here's a vote for having the questions written down like real homework :-)
- About:
Python Math - a Python for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch : Python
- When:
Mon Oct 17 22:45:41 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/lf074/python_math_a_python_for_iphoneipadipod_touch/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 999 milliseconds ago If you actually read the link - it says DropBox, so you could presumably use one of the code-aware highlighting editors (textastic for example) on the ipad, roundtrip through dropbox, and run what you wrote with this. Crude, and not something you'd mistake for a real dev platform, but probably not too bad for just poking at things (or maybe doing LPTHW exercises? :-)
2011-10-12
- About:
Anyone up for implementing the algorithms in actual code? : aiclass
- When:
Wed Oct 12 04:01:44 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/l8c89/anyone_up_for_implementing_the_algorithms_in/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 3 seconds ago It is sometimes said that "Using C (or C++) is premature optimization". Python (and related languages) lets you explore and play with algorithm choices much more quickly... then once you've figured out where things are slow, push those parts in to something faster. ("fast (but brittle) C++ core wrapped in python for flexibility" is something I've used a bunch.)
- About:
Videos don't appear at all : aiclass
- When:
Wed Oct 12 01:42:16 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/l90pw/videos_dont_appear_at_all/
- What:
- I had a similar problem that turned out to be that I wasn't actually logged in - check the upper right corner of the browser, if it says "Welcome (first name)" you are signed in. (If you're not signed in, a lot of things "just don't work" when clicked on, though it was inconsistent which ones when I had the problem - they do appear to be fixing things as they go...) permalink edit delete reply
2011-10-10
- About:
Is financial trading adversarial? : aiclass
- When:
Mon Oct 10 15:52:37 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/l6sii/is_financial_trading_adversarial/
- What:
- Around Boston, signaling a lane change is a good way to get someone to speed up and close the gap you were trying to get into. That doesn't need subgoals at all, that's purely "it's not enough to win, others must lose" Macchiavellian adversarial behavior :-)
- About:
Is financial trading adversarial? : aiclass
- When:
Mon Oct 10 02:49:56 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/l6sii/is_financial_trading_adversarial/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ 1 point 81 milliseconds ago I was a little surprised that the only real distinction made was that finding optimal actions in the presence of an adversary was "harder". (Then again, I was also surprised that Thrun didn't consider driving adversarial, but he does live in California, not Boston or New York :-) permalink parent edit delete reply
2011-09-14
- About:
cjsmith: Amazon has confirmed my new status
- When:
Wed Sep 14 10:49:27 2011
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/997039.html?view=10511791#t10511791
- What:
- non-creepy AI [info]eichin 2011-09-14 02:48 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Around here, the theory is that the logical conclusion of Amazon Prime (especially now that they'll do *same day* delivery of some things) is that at some point amazon will just start sending stuff - with a friendly and easy return mechanism - *and it will be the stuff that you wanted/needed* and just hadn't gotten around to shopping for :-)
2011-09-05
- About:
[Python] SHIFT key support for heatmap-keyboard - Pastebin.com
- When:
Mon Sep 5 17:11:45 2011
- Where:
http://pastebin.com/akWhRYW5
- What:
- # adding "shift" support to http://www.patrick-wied.at/projects/heatmap-keyboard/ # crude first cut: left shift only, shifted *letters* only diff --git a/coordinates.js b/coordinates.js index a5dfb1a..f6c5437 100644 --- a/coordinates.js +++ b/coordinates.js @@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ app.COORDINATES = { ">": [590, 275], "/": [644, 275], "?": [644, 275], - " ": [500, 300] + " ": [500, 300], + "LSHIFT": [104 ,275], }, app.EXCLUDES = [" "], app.SAMPLE_TEXT = [ diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index 7f77f8e..125f6ef 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -131,6 +131,13 @@ var key = text.charAt(i); if(/^[A-Za-z]$/.test(key)){ + if (/[A-Z]/.test(key)) { + var joined = app.COORDINATES["LSHIFT"].join(";"); + if(!temp[joined]) + temp[joined] = 0; + + temp[joined] += 1; + } key = key.toUpperCase(); } if(app.config.exclude && app.EXCLUDES.indexOf(key) == -1){ create new paste | create new version of this paste RAW Paste Data
2011-07-22
- About:
Google
- When:
Thu Jul 21 21:48:36 2011
- Where:
https://plus.google.com/117091380454742934025/posts/89xgTY49Rvk
- What:
- Mark Eichin - As somone who spent the 90's performing various atrocities with autoconf and imake (sometimes at the same time) I'm actually kind of nostalgic for it - because these days most of the other-people's-code I wrangle uses maven. Imagine all the complexity, all of the cargo-cult cut&paste that you see from inexperienced [or uninterested] autoconf users - combined with XML, "magic" fetching of dependencies from the internet... and no actual portability aid because the code is in java to start with and works equally poorly everywhere without the help of tools :-} I think one of the big problems with autoconf (other than letting it stagnate at some key early points instead of bringing in community hacks as real features, ah hindsight) is that the input language and the output code generator are the same thing. Sure, the unix simply-joined-tools approach is great, as long as your joins are lines of text and you don't get any serious parsing involved... when you have arcane quoting techniques were being almost correct gets you subtle and unrelated failures maybe, you encourage magical thinking, and the end user can easily build a model that leads them into the woods. (Of course, the pan-unix portability in the early days mattered, and there wasn't really incentive to build a robust tool - after all, once you got your thing building, you had "real work" to do, and weren't going to touch the build system anymore if you could possibly avoid it. Also, things like config.site helped get around a lot of the problems, except that they didn't really catch on...) 9:48 PM - Edit
2011-07-21
- About:
Post by Bruce Lewis
- When:
Thu Jul 21 11:36:42 2011
- Where:
https://plus.google.com/118173160071859284230/posts/6bC94EZDiQR
- What:
- Mark Eichin - There were prebuilt facebook-ish default circles when I signed up - I deleted them all after the first day or so, because they don't fit my model of online people. (Might have been an attempt to guide how people think about the service, it just didn't work on me :-)
- About:
Post by Kee Hinckley from Mobile
- When:
Wed Jul 20 23:53:52 2011
- Where:
https://plus.google.com/117903011098040166012/posts/FRpSR9AdV2q
- What:
- Mark Eichin - Consider that the roomba is much dumber than even many cynical users think it is. mvi_1587.mov little short range IR lights - and a good thing, because it has nowhere near enough CPU to handle a camera. Take a look at the Neato XV-11 for something that at least has memory, and a laser scanner (still only working with "detected obstacle at this distance along this angle", but actually building a model - very good at getting directly back to the charging dock from 3 rooms away without new observations.) Still no camera, but also no distractions; vision isn't actually very useful for navigation... Finally, take a look at the Kinect (and some of the labs that have mounted them off a quadcopter and used them for full scale navigation.) Uses a scatter (not grid) of IR dots; with a desktop-class computer attached, it can do things like "figure out where the floor is" visually... 11:53 PM - Edit
- About:
Google
- When:
Wed Jul 20 23:36:30 2011
- Where:
https://plus.google.com/116340731699206014240/posts/3X3S4NyGKQk
- What:
- Mark Eichin - If you use a strap at all, consider the luma loop; I've found it useful for keeping my hands free and still being able to bring the camera up to my eye in an instant. (For the kind of wildlife shooting I do, time from noticing motion to taking shot is the reason a dSLR is worth having at all.) Also nice when getting into the car - just unclip the quickrelease to put the camera on the seat or the floor [or handing it to someone else], continue wearing the loop, rather than taking it off over the hat... Lens caps: the Sima Capkeeper, little elastic that goes around the lens and a tether that sticks to the cap - same deal, lets you knock the lens cap off and shoot without worrying about it :-) (If you're shooting people or landscapes, probably less of a concern.) I carry an extra battery - but I've almost never needed it, since I don't use flash so I usually go multiple weeks on a charge. More comforting than anything :-) Amazon has a couple of better-than-stock ones for the rebel, haven't looked for other cameras. 11:35 PM
2011-07-19
- About:
Gadmei P83 PMP does glasses-free 3D for $179 -- Engadget
- When:
Tue Jul 19 13:57:42 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/gadmei-p83-pmp-does-glasses-free-3d-for-179/#disqus_thread
- What:
- _Mark_ 0 minutes ago Mine just arrived; first complaint is that it doesn't handle MPOs at all - it takes stereo-pair images, and projects the halves. So it's not a useful field-viewer for the Fuji W3, for example; you have to process the images first. Screen not as bright as I'd like, particularly with videos, and the UI is kind of insane (left/right on the dpad while looking at a picture adjusts *volume*? really?) but it is pretty cool for the price point... Edit
- About:
cjsmith: Really? Does it smell bad?
- When:
Mon Jul 18 22:21:22 2011
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/988274.html?view=10431346#t10431346
- What:
- [info]eichin 2011-07-19 02:21 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Having professional movers, 11 years ago, was great - but it meant that *everything* came along to the house. I have one box in the basement
2011-07-08
- About:
Chocolate printer makes 3D molds of your edible visions -- Engadget
- When:
Fri Jul 8 01:15:22 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/06/chocolate-printer-makes-3d-molds-of-your-edible-visions/
- What:
- Mark Eichin 0 minutes ago in reply to Justin Mitchell Important difference - the one on instructables didn't actually work, completely failed on the "making solid chocolate instead of drool" part of 3d printing. The *interesting* part of the paper is that Hao's group actually solved that part of the problem for the first time. Edit
- About:
Google Docs Product Ideas - Google Moderator
- When:
Thu Jun 2 22:13:44 2011
- Where:
https://www.google.com/moderator/#8/e=87e7f
- What:
- "An option for emacs-like key-bindings." _Mark_, - Google Docs Product Ideas View responses (0) Share ▼
- About:
Google Docs Product Ideas - Google Moderator
- When:
Thu Jun 2 22:12:08 2011
- Where:
https://www.google.com/moderator/#8/e=87e7f&q=87e7f.400617&v=4
- What:
- watch video close video "Better integration with google code (for documentation, at least, but also for code)" _Mark_, - Google Docs Product Ideas Share ▼
2011-06-02
- About:
So, I guess everyone here got that email too... : CR48
- When:
Wed Jun 1 22:29:25 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/CR48/comments/hpc1l/so_i_guess_everyone_here_got_that_email_too/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 446 milliseconds ago (that said, these prices aren't news - this is the $500 samsung they had at the Google I/O keynote, right? the $350 Acer is due in two weeks anyhow...) (and yes, checking engadget for those price references: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/samsung-chromebook-goes-on-sale-early-at-gilt/ confirms that Gilt is already sold out :-) (that said, these prices aren't news - this is the $500 samsung they had at the Google I/O keynote, right? the $350 Acer is due in two weeks anyhow...) (and yes, checking engadget for those price references: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/samsung-chromebook-goes-on-sale-early-at-gilt/ confirms that Gilt is already sold out :-) formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" ~~strikethrough~~ strikethrough super^script superscript * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
So, I guess everyone here got that email too... : CR48
- When:
Wed Jun 1 22:26:27 2011
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/CR48/comments/hpc1l/so_i_guess_everyone_here_got_that_email_too/
- What:
- [–]_Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 475 milliseconds ago I've got a chromebook, I don't really need two - the interesting bit is convincing other people to buy them, and $500 doesn't really do that. (I do have a use for a locked-to-a-desk chromebook - and chromeos on an old EEEpc with an external screen and keyboard would work great for that, and still be less including the desk :-) I've got a chromebook, I don't really need *two* - the interesting bit is convincing other people to buy them, and $500 doesn't really do that. (I do have a use for a locked-to-a-desk chromebook - and chromeos on an old EEEpc with an external screen and keyboard would work great for that, and still be less including the desk :-) formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" ~~strikethrough~~ strikethrough super^script superscript * permalink * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2011-05-20
- About:
Key pattern analysis software times your typing for improved password protection -- Engadget
- When:
Fri May 20 00:59:47 2011
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/20/key-pattern-analysis-software-times-your-typing-for-improved-pas/
- What:
- Given that the PSN info wasn't stolen from end-users, but from the network itself, this couldn't have possibly helped. Also, when the MIT Media Lab worked on this in the late 1980's... they found it really easy to mimic someone's typing cadence, sometimes accidentally, if the precision was kept loose enough that people would actually be able to use it themselves. Somehow it keeps getting reinvented, though - maybe because it seems easier than actual security... Edit
2011-02-19
- About:
cjsmith: Tufts Admission Decision
- When:
Sat Feb 19 09:33:46 2011
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/975211.html?view=10249067#t10249067
- What:
- nice! [info]eichin 2011-02-19 02:32 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This congratulations! (of course, if you actually go here I suspect I'll ending up seeing you *less* often, you'll be so busy :-)
2011-02-10
- About:
Woot: The Community: Woots: Memorex Wi-Fi Connected Blu-ray Player
- When:
Thu Feb 10 01:29:14 2011
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4342229&PageIndex=1&ReplyCount=22#post4342325
- What:
- Tempting - but while the User Manual http://www.memorex.com/Global/MVBD2535_UserGuide_All-Lang.pdf talks about streaming, it appears that that's only Netflix, Pandora, and Blockbuster - no mention of DLNA (or anything aside from those "Applications".)
2011-02-02
- About:
Wunder Blog : Weather Underground
- When:
Wed Feb 2 01:16:18 2011
- Where:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/WunderPress/comment.html?entrynum=12#commenttop
- What:
- 344. eichin 1:11 AM EST on February 02, 2011 Just reloaded and saw the "classic" link. Ahhhhhhh, much better. (Also useful for doing A/B comparisons without having to rely on memory :-) I've updated my bookmarks. Action: Quote | Modify Comment Member Since: November 20, 2004 Posts: 0 Comments: 1
- About:
Wunder Blog : Weather Underground
- When:
Wed Feb 2 00:29:41 2011
- Where:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/WunderPress/comment.html?entrynum=12#commenttop
- What:
- 268. eichin 12:27 AM EST on February 02, 2011 Bug: the "news" links at the top look like they're supposed to be dismissable notices of some sort, but they don't go away, even when I've followed them. Wastes almost as much space as the header. Bug: 5-day (wasn't it 7-day before?) forecast for a specific city is below the fold *on a 1600x1200 screen*. I almost didn't find it at all. Bug: the main page gives me some random city (in this case, Providence, RI - an hour's drive south of here on the coast, with entirely different weather. I'm logged in (paying subscriber) - either pick my most recent favorite, or my most popular one, don't give me something random - unless you have an *accurate* "Current Location" (from a device GPS or location service, for example), don't guess from my address, it's worse than useless. Bug: The timezone setting dropdown is *really* unfriendly, at least put the one for the city I'm looking at at the top of the list, since that's probably right. Bug: setting units to "both" changed nothing, just left me with Fahrenheit. This is more important than you may realize: when I'm checking up on friends in Europe, I want to see the numbers they'll use, but I'm an American, so I also want to see the ones that I actually understand... Neutral: at least you didn't break Animated Radar, and it wasn't even too hard to find. Positive: The sparklines are kind of cute, but you may want to reconsider Tufte's notes about using color with them... and maybe a *hint* about timescale somewhere... Count me in on wanting the old site back; read Jef Raskin's "Humane Interface" book if you want ideas on how to quantify the specific *measurable* ways in which the new site is harder to use. I'd seriously consider using the "lite" site instead, but it's showing me ads and doesn't have a login (and doesn't have the configurable radar widget.) (Note that I haven't gotten into the things I just don't *like* that might be gut reactions to change - these are things that really are *wrong* and need fixing even if you don't reconsider. But I'll admit that I don't really like the new look either :-) Action: Quote | Modify Comment Member Since: November 20, 2004 Posts: 0 Comments: 0
2011-01-08
- About:
xlib - What method rotates screen in Xserver - Stack Overflow
- When:
Fri Jan 7 23:16:40 2011
- Where:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3940055/what-method-rotates-screen-in-xserver/4632299#4632299
- What:
- up vote 0 down vote One of the functions in /usr/include/X11/extensions/Xrandr.h - probably XRRSetScreenConfig - uses the RANDR extension to ask the server to configure a pile of things including the rotation. That's what the xrandr commandline tool would be using. If you're asking what actually does the work, that's a harder question - the X server, assuming it supports the RANDR extension, may be using generic code, though more likely it is using very chipset-specific code, to do the actual work when rendering the frame...
- About:
python - Get keysym for key char - Stack Overflow
- When:
Fri Jan 7 23:06:02 2011
- Where:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4537092/get-keysym-for-key-char/4632273#4632273
- What:
- up vote 0 down vote VK_* are windows-specific - the model under X is a little different You might look at Global Hotkey with X11/Xlib to see what the pieces are called under Xlib; you need to build a mask from the modifiers, not treat them as keys, to actually do an XGrabKey.
2011-01-07
- About:
version control - is there a class history visualization tool for SVN - Stack Overflow
- When:
Thu Jan 6 21:53:55 2011
- Where:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3779035/is-there-a-class-history-visualization-tool-for-svn/4622114#4622114
- What:
- 0 down vote It isn't animation, but if you want to see a single file's history "all at once" Ned Batchelder's svn blameall is a useful tool, and probably gets the same sort of thing across in a static presentation. (It would probably be a good starting point, if you have any idea what you'd want the animation to look like - blameall takes care of the svn mechanics well enough, and is written in Python.)
2011-01-06
- About:
Bug #509425 in svn-load (Ubuntu): “svn-load can't connect to my repository”
- When:
Thu Jan 6 17:44:35 2011
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/svn-load/+bug/509425
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 1 second ago: #3 A quick look at the source shows that this is due to client.callback_get_login = get_login def get_login(realm, username, may_save): nocallback() ## pysvn supports a number of callbacks for scenarios I've yet to ## encounter. For now, just emit a warning to hopefully clue the user ## in about what went wrong - maybe they'll send a patch! :) def nocallback(): sys.stderr.write("Warning: Unimplemented callback: %s\n" % (sys._getframe(1).f_code.co_name)) callback_get_login itself is documented here: http://pysvn.tigris.org/docs/pysvn_prog_ref.html#pysvn_client_callback_get_login so, a somewhat crude approach is to just install def get_login(realm, username, may_save): print "Called get_login with", repr(username), repr(may_save) return (True, username, raw_input("Password for %s (svn): " % username), True) (The second "True" tells svn to "save" the password and not reprompt - which causes the svn.simple entry to switch from gnome-keyring to "passtype=simple" and keeps the password in plaintext in that file... just so you know...)
- About:
Bug #509425 in svn-load (Ubuntu): “svn-load can't connect to my repository”
- When:
Thu Jan 6 17:26:30 2011
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/svn-load/+bug/509425
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 2 seconds ago: #2 With svn-load 1.2-1 in maverick, I'm still seeing this: Warning: Unimplemented callback: get_login TypeError: PyCXX: Error creating object of type N2Py5TupleE from None Error connecting or no such repository: https://*** It looks like my normal svn use is using gnome-keyring to get the password, based on looking at $HOME/.subversion/auth/svn.simple...
2011-01-03
- About:
python - How to count all elements in a nested dictionary? - Stack Overflow
- When:
Sun Jan 2 21:33:14 2011
- Where:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4581646/how-to-count-all-elements-in-a-nested-dictionary/4581718#4581718
- What:
- 0 down vote The subelements are distinct objects, there's no other relationship to use that will be fundamentally faster than iterating over them - though there are lots of ways to do that (using map, or .values(), for example) that will vary in performance, enough that you'll probably want to use timeit to compare them. If counting them is important to your application, consider doing some things to make that easier: * count them as you build the data structure * instead of nested dicts, consider an in-memory sqlite table, using connect(":memory:") (this might slow down other operations, or make them more complex, but the trade-off is worth considering.) link|edit|delete|flag answered 0 secs ago eichin 11
2011-01-02
- About:
evaluating buffer in emacs python-mode on remote host - Stack Overflow
- When:
Sat Jan 1 22:55:46 2011
- Where:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4465615/evaluating-buffer-in-emacs-python-mode-on-remote-host/4577034#4577034
- What:
- 0 down vote Short answer: not without writing some missing elisp code. Long version: In python.el, run-python adds data-directory (which on my Ubuntu 10.10 box is /usr/share/emacs/23.1/etc/ ) to $PYTHONPATH, specifically so that it can find emacs.py (as supplied by the local emacs distribution.) Then it does a (python-send-string "import emacs") and expects it to work... It looks like the defadvice wrappers that tramp uses don't actually pass PYTHONPATH, so this doesn't work even if you have the matching emacs version on the remote system. If you M-x customize-variable RET tramp-remote-process-environment RET then hit one of the INS buttons and add PYTHONPATH=/usr/share/emacs/23.1/etc then hit STATE and set it to "current session" (just to test it, or "save for future sessions" if it works for you) it almost works - the complaint goes away, in any case, because the remote python can now find the remote emacs.py. If you now go back to the original question, doing python-send-buffer, you just run into a different error: No such file or directory: '/tmp/py24574XdA' because python-mode just stuffs the content into a temporary file and tells the python subprocess to load that. You'd have to change python-send-region (the other functions call it) and particularly the way it uses make-temp-file to be tramp-aware - there's even a tramp-make-tramp-temp-file you could probably build upon. (Be sure to post it if you do...)
2010-12-12
- About:
Bug #585853 in xdm (Ubuntu): “Not possible to use xdm/wdm, only can use gdm (Lucid, Maverick)”
- When:
Sun Dec 12 18:47:13 2010
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdm/+bug/585853
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 1 second ago: #17 FTR I'm seeing this on maverick, with radeon.modeset=1 (and options radeon modeset=1) on a Thinkpad T60p, lspci says "ATI Technologies Inc M56GL [Mobility FireGL V5200]", with the fglrx drivers --purged (because they dropped support for this chipset a while back - with the useless proprietary drivers installed, X starts fine but all GL code (glxinfo, glxgears) dies with a near-immediate coredump.) With the "start gdm, kill gdm, start xdm" workaround, I get working glxinfo and glxgears. (I haven't tried turning off modeset with fglrx purged, yet.)
2010-12-09
- About:
Another home hackable device? « adafruit industries blog
- When:
Wed Dec 8 23:36:50 2010
- Where:
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/12/08/another-home-hackable-device/comment-page-1/#comment-17214
- What:
- From the documentation (PDF at homedepot.com) if the batteries run out, it will fail in whatever heating/cooling/off mode it was in, which seems poor – I’d always assumed you’d want a traditional mechanical thermostat fallback in the design, but I guess at $100 that’s a shortcut to be taken :-} (All I want is to be able to have my logout script, when I leave work, set the heat back up before I get home. These days the "computer" part is easy (some little arduino and a zigbee or wifi-serial frob) but actually doing the control sanely is Real Work…) Comment by _Mark_ — December 8, 2010 @ 11:36 pm
2010-12-07
- About:
Comment #76 : Bug #587186 : Bugs : “binutils” package : Ubuntu
- When:
Tue Dec 7 00:55:02 2010
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/binutils/+bug/587186/comments/76
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 12 seconds ago: #76 Apparently this: ~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : CentaurHauls cpu family : 6 model : 7 model name : VIA Samuel 2 stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 399.000 cache size : 64 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 1 wp : yes flags : fpu de tsc msr cx8 mtrr pge mmx 3dnow up bogomips : 799.92 clflush size : 32 cache_alignment : 32 address sizes : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual power management: also somehow fits the description "i586 and lower processors, as well as i686 processors without cmov support"? Because I just tried to do-release-upgrade -d and got the subprocess new post-removal script killed by signal (Illegal instruction) Exception during pm.DoInstall(): E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) failure. (The machine is a 2003-era "Martian Netdrive" which originally shipped as a Debian box, and makes a fine wireless printer+scanner server under Ubuntu, or did until just now...
2010-12-02
- About:
Issue 184 - android-scripting - Allow running scripts as root on rooted phones - Project Hosting on Google Code
- When:
Thu Dec 2 03:47:37 2010
- Where:
http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/issues/detail?id=184#c15
- What:
- Comment 15 by eichin, Today (moments ago) Given $ cat /sdcard/sl4a/scripts/my_uid.py import os print "UID=", os.getuid() $ cat /sdcard/sl4a/scripts/execsu.py import os import sys pythonexe = os.path.join(sys.prefix, "bin/python") print "before", os.getuid() os.system("%s -c 'import os; print os.getuid()'" % pythonexe) os.execv("/system/xbin/su", ["su", "-c", "%s /sdcard/sl4a/scripts/my_uid.py" % pythonexe]) Runnning execsu.py from SL4A displays before 10105 10105 UID= 0 under rooted CyanogenMod 6 (you get a prompt from the su-manager before the UID=0.) I used os.execv directly because "import subprocess" fails to import select, and I suppose using os.execvp would have simplified it a little as well - to use this, all you need is one "invoke su" wrapper, which strips down to import os, sys pythonexe = os.path.join(sys.prefix, "bin/python") os.execv("/system/xbin/su", ["su", "-c", "%s /sdcard/sl4a/scripts/my_program.py" % pythonexe]) and then my_program.py itself is whatever you want to run as root. (I dug into this because I actually want a helper to turn device_provisioned back on in settings.db...)
2010-10-18
- About:
Verify your review
- When:
Mon Oct 18 01:23:59 2010
- Where:
http://verify.powerreviews.com/CR.do;jsessionid=624C4308BB6C4204ACDC7077350293F6.smokyservices?co=dr
- What:
- Submitted at:Brookstone Exciting and High-Tech by_Mark_fromBoston, MAon10/17/ 2010 The AR.Drone quadricopter is a really sophisticated device - enough auto-pilot support to get you started, resilient enough to bounce off some trees or furniture while you get the hang of it - and an exciting ride once you develop your skills. (This is my first helicopter, and it took a couple of batteries-worth of flying to get some real control.) On top of that, it's built on an open architecture, and there's a development kit on the vendor website, so even though it is professionally built I still have the option of tinkering with the internals later. 4-stars because it could use more flight-time on a charge, but now that spare batteries aren't backordered that's less of an issue.
2010-10-13
- About:
SparkFun Electronics - Comment Successfully Added
- When:
Wed Oct 13 14:21:04 2010
- Where:
https://www.sparkfun.com/commerce//comment.php?id=19446&added=1&callback=news.php%3Fid%3D460
- What:
- by THOK THOK's rank: +2.9 | Oct 13, 2010 at 12:20pm Comment rating: 0 If you're actually interested in *hacking* it, the AR.Drone has a devkit and API guide - it's mostly AT commands underneath :-) I haven't tried adding additional sensors to it yet, but I think it's worth a look.
2010-10-08
- About:
Comment #36 : Bug #641259 : Bugs : Ubuntu release notes
- When:
Thu Oct 7 23:19:05 2010
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-release-notes/+bug/641259/comments/36
- What:
- Comment 36 for bug 641259 Mark Eichin wrote 10 seconds ago: #36 I can confirm that grub2 1.98+20100804-5ubuntu3 fixes the original problem on the Sony Vaio P as well (and I got it directly via "aptitude safe-upgrade", if you needed evidence that it's percolated through to the release repos.) Terrific, thanks!
2010-10-03
- About:
Amazon.com: Christopher D. Hardtke's review of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Gourmet Sin...
- When:
Sun Oct 3 19:53:16 2010
- Where:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R26E6L65W8S37G?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002VASD24&cdPage=&nodeID=16310101&ref_=cm_cr_dp_cmt&tag=&linkCode=&newContentNum=1&cdMSG=addedToThread&newContentID=Mx35N0KY56RUN9S#CustomerDiscussions
- What:
- Your initial post: Oct. 3, 2010 4:53 PM PDT Mark Eichin says: I was surprised to read this, since I usually check these things - so I looked at the box again, the last ingredient is indeed sucralose - the *first* ingredient, though, is actually sugar. The second ingredient, "creamer", also has "glucose syrup" in the breakdown. Given that, it's startling that they felt the need to add even more sweetener (the artificial sweeteners generally contribute a huge sweetness hit.) I'm disappointed - I found the taste to match the Oregon Chai I was fond of back when it first came out in the 90's, but I'm not particular sensitive to artificial sweetener aftertaste (I avoid them for other reasons.) Edit your post: Insert a product link To insert a product link use the format: [[ASIN:ASIN product-title]] (What's this?) I was surprised to read this, since I usually check these things - so I looked at the box again, the last ingredient is indeed sucralose - the *first* ingredient, though, is actually sugar. The second ingredient, "creamer", also has "glucose syrup" in the breakdown. Given that, it's startling that they felt the need to add even more sweetener (the artificial sweeteners generally contribute a huge sweetness hit.) I'm disappointed - I found the taste to match the Oregon Chai I was fond of back when it first came out in the 90's, but I'm not particular sensitive to artificial sweetener aftertaste (I avoid them for other reasons.) [Cancel] [Delete post] Guidelines
2010-09-30
- About:
Bug #641259 in grub2 (Ubuntu Maverick): “grub does not appear to load after maverick post-beta install”
- When:
Wed Sep 29 23:42:08 2010
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/grub2/+bug/641259
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 2 seconds ago: #27 @cjwatson the "workaround" was the one @fader suggested at #8 -- install 10.04.1 on another partition, let *it* install grub (the Lucid grub, in this case) and autodetect the other partitions (including the Maverick one) - that grub boots just fine, and you can manually select the 10.10 install instead of the 10.04.1 one, and it comes up just fine. That's probably why people are calling it a clear regression - because the Lucid one still works fine with everything else Maverick (the bug *could* be more subtle than that, of course.)
2010-09-21
- About:
Bug #641259 in grub2 (Ubuntu Maverick): “grub does not appear to load after maverick post-beta install”
- When:
Mon Sep 20 23:02:12 2010
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/grub2/+bug/641259
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 7 hours ago: Re: [Bug 641259] Re: grub does not appear to load after maverick post-beta install #23 It breaks on the Vaio P (1st gen) if that helps... if someone in the Boston area is working on it, I can make some arrangement. (The workaround works for me, and if there are useful grub diags or alternative versions, I can try...)
2010-09-15
- About:
"Elementary" Python [panela.blog-city.com]
- When:
Tue Sep 14 22:22:57 2010
- Where:
http://panela.blog-city.com/elementary_python.htm
- What:
- 20. _Mark_ left... 2010.09.14 Tue 7:22 pm :: http://www.thok.org/bloggery Zed Shaw asked this same question recently, as part of http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ and it looks like he went with gedit (the book has windows/mac/linux setup instructions in the first couple of pages to compare, he probably had more specific constraints than you did, but it's worth a look...)
2010-09-12
- About:
What tips should every new Python programmer know? : Python
- When:
Sat Sep 11 22:54:30 2010
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/dcjeg/what_tips_should_every_new_python_programmer_know/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 330 milliseconds ago[-] Yeah, one of the biggest embarassments looking back at my own early python code was that it was mostly rewrites of perl code - so there was lots of if re.search("\.jpg", path) that should have been if path.endswith(".jpg"). "Idioms matter"... Yeah, one of the biggest embarassments looking back at my own early python code was that it was mostly rewrites of perl code - so there was lots of `if re.search("\.jpg", path)` that should have been `if path.endswith(".jpg")`. "Idioms matter"... formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2010-06-30
- About:
cjsmith: Jackie: bad day
- When:
Tue Jun 29 23:52:43 2010
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/960788.html?view=10005268#t10005268
- What:
- [info]eichin 2010-06-30 03:52 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Oh, until I got this far I was worried it was surgery prep or something. (My mom has scottish folds, and one of them gets very matted - so occasionally it gets a body shave - head and legs still fully furred, so it sort of looks like a lion with boots on :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
2010-06-13
- About:
Hungry Much? | ZanyPickle.com
- When:
Sun Jun 13 19:39:27 2010
- Where:
http://zanypickle.com/2010/05/hungry-much-7/comment-page-1/#comment-2936
- What:
- _Mark_ Says: June 13th, 2010 at 6:39 pm @Imeno well, I just took a similar shot with a 250mm lens and a 1/250s shutter speed; the trick is that when the young get to this age (around 4 weeks I guess?) this scene replays itself every couple of minutes, so you just have to find a nest box and camp out :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/4697463237/ isn’t as good as the original for this one, but it gets it across pretty well…
2010-06-08
- About:
Sony's second-gen VAIO P now available for pre-order -- Engadget
- When:
Tue Jun 8 17:29:16 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/08/sonys-second-gen-vaio-p-now-available-for-pre-order/1#c28504327
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Jun 8th 2010 5:27PM Neutral The one problem with the "classic" Vaio P was that it used the GMA500/Poulsbo chipset, which had badly broken linux support (mired in ownership disputes that have kept anyone from making it work with a modern release.) Any idea if the new one avoids that?
2010-05-22
- About:
Trouble in Alewife Red-tail Paradise?? | Cambridge Community Television
- When:
Fri May 21 21:39:55 2010
- Where:
http://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/46452#comment-3895
- What:
- Ahh, I was wondering where the camera came from! I've been taking pictures since a friend of mine first pointed it out this January: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/tags/185alewifebrookparkway/ When I've got time I pull in and park in front of Circle Furniture; there are usually people across the street with *large* lenses too. A lot of passers-by will stop and ask about them, it'll be nice to tell people that they have names :-) May 21st, 2010 by _Mark_
2010-05-17
- About:
A Timeless Way of Building or Why do all these houses suck? @ Hyperextended Metaphor
- When:
Mon May 17 18:13:35 2010
- Where:
http://innocuous.org/articles/2010/05/16/a-timeless-way-of-building-or-why-do-all-these-houses-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-246
- What:
- _Mark_ says: May 17, 2010 at 6:13 pm I thought the Somerville triple-decker (at least the latest incarnation of it) had nothing to do with living and everything to do with zoning regulations – in the 80’s and 90’s at least you could build a 2 decker, not a 3, but you could then add a cupola, and then you could expand that, and eventually “upgrade” all the way to a full three-decker, which you couldn’t have just built in the first place. (At least that was how my landlord at the time explained his continuing expansion efforts over the collection of houses he owned…)
2010-05-10
- About:
Mitsubishi and Tokyo Institute of Tech pair up to stop wasteful late-night windmills -- Engadget
- When:
Mon May 10 15:46:40 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/10/mitsubishi-and-tokyo-institute-of-tech-pair-up-to-stop-wasteful/1#c27790874
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted May 10th 2010 3:46PM Neutral Remember the T-zero from acpropulsion? (It was a tech-demo electric sports car that led the way for the tesla...) acpropulsion's "real work" was V2G "Vehicle-2-Grid" architecture work - ie. using idle electric cars to load-level the solar/wind-fed grid. They were doing this around 10 years ago - so it's sad to see that it's *still* "a few years away"...
2010-05-05
- About:
Facebook
- When:
Wed May 5 01:59:51 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/
- What:
- Mark Eichin I saw a convoy of 4 Ospreys heading in to Hanscom Friday morning - http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/4572607111/ and following. They look very distinctive, even at long range... 36 seconds ago
2010-04-29
- About:
Sony taken to court over PS3 'Other OS' removal -- Engadget
- When:
Thu Apr 29 16:38:52 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/29/sony-taken-to-court-over-ps3-other-os-removal/1#c27518053
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:38PM Neutral @enzospartan exactly - I got one specifically because it was the cheapest linux box I could get with HDMI out. So, for now, I won't take the firmware upgrade (per Sony's only advice when I filed a support request) but I'll certainly join the class on this if it happens; if that falls through, it'll be time to see about selling it and starting again, there are probably more options now...
2010-04-28
- About:
Facebook
- When:
Wed Apr 28 02:04:35 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=h
- What:
- Mark Eichin The apple-made iPad case is quite light - but the iPad alone weighs more than the Kindle DX, let alone the "normal" kindle. 3 minutes ago ·
2010-04-25
- About:
iPad Camera Kit ships with USB headset and keyboard support -- Engadget
- When:
Sun Apr 25 14:46:57 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/ipad-camera-kit-ships-with-usb-headset-and-keyboard-support/1#comments
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Apr 25th 2010 2:44PM Neutral @Gobelet Indeed, one of the things I'm waiting for (having used one for two weeks) is a photo app that isn't *entirely useless*. All I need is caption, tag, direct push to flickr - maybe crop, I *don't* want filters or photoshoppy stuff, just competent workflow - and this could become my "weekend computer"...
2010-04-23
- About:
Tutorial: consuming Twitter's real-time stream API in Python : Python
- When:
Fri Apr 23 14:12:28 2010
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/bukb0/tutorial_consuming_twitters_realtime_stream_api/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 441 milliseconds ago[-] Mostly because it isn't - it's a thin wrapper over the C API. This means that the C docs are useful, and that it is easy to keep in sync with updates to the C version. It also means you really want to wrap it in a task-specific wrapper, rather than spreading pycurl calls throughout your code - but really, you wanted to do that anyway. Mostly because it isn't - it's a thin wrapper over the C API. This means that the C *docs* are useful, and that it is easy to keep in sync with updates to the C version. It also means you really want to wrap it in a task-specific wrapper, rather than spreading pycurl calls throughout your code - but really, you wanted to do that anyway. formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Facebook | Robert French is debating getting an iPad. What do you think?
- When:
Fri Apr 23 02:48:07 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/rfrench?v=wall&story_fbid=111331285570166
- What:
- Mark Eichin I like the Kindle DX for pdfs, but it's too big to just carry randomly (I take it on trips, and bring it to work on interview days so I can use it for resumes and interview questions.) After using the iPad, though, it feels both big and *slow*. I got my mom an iPad, and had a chance to play with it for 2 weeks first - it doesn't need to be remote-sysadminned (so it beats a netbook for this use) and it's just *comfortable* to use as long as your use cases overlap with what the apps do - non-threaded email, photo *browsing*, reading. iPDF was entirely acceptable for reading complex manuals (like the Rovio user guide - probably not as rich as a flight map, but lots of vector art.) Given how nice the (IPS) screen is, it's crying out for decent photo management apps (tagging, captioning, uploading, maybe cropping); the Apple photo app, however, is an abject failure, and is high on my personal list of reasons to not get an iPad... and I didn't find any others that were even that good. One can only hope that when they ship the camera-adaptors (allegedly this month) that they also ship some not-quite-so-useless software with them.... See More I found the keyboard to be far better than I expected, as a qwerty touch-typist - I could get surprising speeds one-handed in landscape mode (which is faster and easier, just like Fitts' law says it should be :-) but I couldn't do anything at all two-handed (a natural "resting" posture produces spurious keystrokes, and you end up looking at the "keys" anyway, it's not nearly the bad habit it is on a real keyboard.) I recommend taking the time to fondle one, if only to appreciate the technology and design. It definitely benefits from being a locked-down platform that at least tries for stylistic consistency; it sounds odd, but with many apps the device "goes away" in the sense that you feel more immersed, like you are "doing a thing" rather than "using a computer", in a way I almost never feel outside of emacs. 5 minutes ago ·
2010-04-20
- About:
Facebook
- When:
Tue Apr 20 01:17:28 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?
- What:
- Mark Eichin In Concord, we celebrate it with reenactments where the rebels outnumber the british :-) 3 minutes ago
2010-04-15
- About:
Apple looking to hire camera expert, iPad Camera Kit to support USB audio? -- Engadget
- When:
Thu Apr 15 18:22:24 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/15/apple-looking-to-hire-camera-expert-ipad-camera-kit-to-support/2#comments
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Apr 15th 2010 6:21PM Neutral @hutch2509 A few reasons the slate fails, for me, relative to the iPad: (1) less than half the battery life (2) it's a "real" windows box - so I'd have to sysadmin it (3) wide, non-IPS, screen. So it might be an interesting product in its own right, it's not actually comparable to the iPad...
- About:
Apple looking to hire camera expert, iPad Camera Kit to support USB audio? -- Engadget
- When:
Thu Apr 15 15:26:27 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/15/apple-looking-to-hire-camera-expert-ipad-camera-kit-to-support/2#c27166628
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Apr 15th 2010 3:25PM Neutral I'm looking forward to being able to use an iPad to pull pictures off of my camera, tag them, caption them, and push them to flickr (something I use a netbook for now; the iPad would be an improvement screenwise, at least...) but as far as I can tell, there *aren't* any apps for this kind of thing now? Lots of browsers/viewers, Photo.app itself can't do any more than email a picture (and it doesn't even have full-res pictures)... or have I missed something? I'm not asking for Lightroom (or Aperture) (well, OK, I *am* but what I actually need is a lot less than that) but there doesn't even seem anything that syncs useful changes with iPhoto, let alone directly manage an online gallery...
2010-04-13
- About:
Apple - Support - Discussions - Anyone able to get the older white ...
- When:
Mon Apr 12 23:02:53 2010
- Where:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11368657#11368657
- What:
- _Mark_ Posts: 1 Registered: Apr 12, 2010 Re: Anyone able to get the older white bluetooth keyboard working? Posted: Apr 12, 2010 8:02 PM in response to: darshie76 Click to edit this message... Click to reply to this topic Reply email Email I just had the same problem - my A1016 (M9270LL/A) white 1st-gen bluetooth keyboard works just fine with OS/X, but fails on the iPad (so it's an outright bug on the iPad side.) Fresh batteries didn't help (just to get that out of the way.) Same "hit enter, the ipad pops up a long passcode and then an immediate failure-to-pair" behaviour. Suggestions on actual reporting paths for apple? (Not interested in the "aluminum" keyboard, the white one actually has keys :-) What I really want is a way to use an IBM Model M with the iPad...) M9270LL/A
- About:
Apple - Support - Discussions - Re: Anyone able to get the older white ...
- When:
Mon Apr 12 23:02:36 2010
- Where:
http://discussions.apple.com/messageview.jspa?messageID=11368657&stqc=true
- What:
- _Mark_ Posts: 1 Registered: Apr 12, 2010 New! Re: Anyone able to get the older white bluetooth keyboard working? Posted: Apr 12, 2010 8:02 PM in response to: darshie76 Click to edit this message... Click to reply to this topic Reply email Email I just had the same problem - my A1016 (M9270LL/A) white 1st-gen bluetooth keyboard works just fine with OS/X, but fails on the iPad (so it's an outright bug on the iPad side.) Fresh batteries didn't help (just to get that out of the way.) Same "hit enter, the ipad pops up a long passcode and then an immediate failure-to-pair" behaviour. Suggestions on actual reporting paths for apple? (Not interested in the "aluminum" keyboard, the white one actually has keys :-) What I really want is a way to use an IBM Model M with the iPad...) M9270LL/A
2010-04-02
- About:
Facebook
- When:
Fri Apr 2 14:19:41 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?
- What:
- Mark Eichin last time I asked, I was pointed at Insteon, but I haven't tried any of it (and I may end up wiring my own zigbee stuff anyway, to tie in with the robots) about a minute ago ·
2010-04-01
- About:
Getting Photo Metadata (EXIF) Using Python : Python
- When:
Wed Mar 31 21:53:47 2010
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/bjrx2/getting_photo_metadata_exif_using_python/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 134 milliseconds ago[-] ooh, indeed, from http://tilloy.net/dev/pyexiv2/api.html classmethod from_buffer(buffer) Instantiate an image container from an image buffer. (0.1.3 is the latest I'd found in debian/ubuntu.) Thanks for the pointer. ooh, indeed, from http://tilloy.net/dev/pyexiv2/api.html classmethod from_buffer(buffer) Instantiate an image container from an image buffer. (0.1.3 is the latest I'd found in debian/ubuntu.) Thanks for the pointer. formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2010-03-31
- About:
Amazon patents packaging surveillance, says it's for our own good -- Engadget
- When:
Wed Mar 31 10:13:47 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/31/amazon-patents-packaging-surveillance-says-its-for-our-own-goo/1#c26722439
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Mar 31st 2010 10:13AM Neutral I hope this doesn't interfere with tazachocolate, who have been doing something different but close - you can enter the batch number from your chocolate bar and see how it was made. (Really this sounds more like it should be in an industry "best practices" collection, but patents are what we have instead...)
- About:
Getting Photo Metadata (EXIF) Using Python : Python
- When:
Wed Mar 31 00:18:05 2010
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/bjrx2/getting_photo_metadata_exif_using_python/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 176 milliseconds ago[-] pyexiv2 wraps the C++ exiv2 library, and has good coverage; the one flaw I've found is that the C++ lib can handle in-memory images, and the python wrapper only has a simpler file-based path. pyexiv2 wraps the C++ exiv2 library, and has good coverage; the one flaw I've found is that the C++ lib can handle in-memory images, and the python wrapper only has a simpler file-based path. formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2010-03-09
- About:
Talk:Comparison of embedded computer systems on board the Mars rovers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- When:
Tue Mar 9 00:54:09 2010
- Where:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Comparison_of_embedded_computer_systems_on_board_the_Mars_rovers
- What:
- Jump to: navigation, search Perhaps it's not entirely clear from the Wind River press release, but while the Pathfinder *lander* ran vxWorks (on an RS6000, a port done for this mission) the Sojourner ran a much smaller system - I don't believe there's ever been an 8-bit vxWorks port in any case, but several references describe it as "simple single-threaded" or "serial", and http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds4-3/rover.html specifically says "Sojourner has no on-board operating system".
2010-03-04
- About:
Facebook
- When:
Thu Mar 4 00:06:53 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/
- What:
- Mark Eichin But were they SB-only? I thought the only physics path out of VIII-sb was physics grad school, *then* you could do actual work :-) (The one case I'm thinking of from my house is a Prof at rutgers and works on one of the Fermilab instruments...) 11 seconds ago ·
2010-03-03
- About:
Buzz by Matthew Gray from Buzz
- When:
Tue Mar 2 23:21:53 2010
- Where:
http://www.google.com/buzz/matthewgray/b8AhFcdNdrY/Oooh-how-cool-is-this
- What:
- Mark Eichin - gigapan is integrated with google earth, though - you should be able to drop in to the chicago shoreline and see some of my skyscraper-panorama pictures (not sure if you need to turn on a gigapan layer, or what.)Edit11:21 pm
2010-03-01
- About:
PyCon 2010 and Volunteering « The Mouse Vs. The Python
- When:
Mon Mar 1 12:45:19 2010
- Where:
http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2010/02/28/pycon-2010-and-volunteering/comment-page-1/#comment-19422
- What:
- March 1, 2010 at 11:44 am Explaining the power strips in one of the keynotes made a big difference – I only saw one talk have a problem (before the talk started, while people were sitting down) and everyone just propagated the question towards the back until it hit someone who had power, and then forward to someone who looked guilty :-) Took less than a minute to resolve. (ps. Thanks for volunteering!)
- About:
Facebook | Photos of You
- When:
Fri Feb 26 21:44:43 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=22795&op=1&view=all&subj=100000062693789&id=100000765936525
- What:
- Mark Eichin Mmm, cassette-tape-cable networking, ~300 bits/second. (I still have some of these particular machines - my Mom snagged some when NMHS was throwing them out :-) Pretty advanced for a public school in the early 1980s (and quite an upgrade from the PDP/8e and teletypes) though these days they'd embarass a wristwatch... 2 seconds ago ·
2010-02-11
- About:
Facebook | Jon Luning's Photos - Old Computers
- When:
Thu Feb 11 17:01:49 2010
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2472802&id=6209001
- What:
- Mark Eichin I still have my Model I (and some of the High School's leftover III and IVs, the IV-portable, some CoCos...) which I should power up again some day... but my cellphone runs circles around them, heck there are single-chip accessory boxes that run linux on 32-bit arm now :-) I have pondered what a trs-80-like box that booted into a Python ... See MoreInterpreter instead of an MSBASIC one would be like, especially as a teaching tool. (Scarily, the "easy" path to trying it is probably a livecd linux install on a netbook, and would cost a factor of ten less than a TRS-80 ever did.) 2 seconds ago ·
2010-01-18
- About:
Urgent call for experienced Python programmers for assistance in coding a disaster management framework for the Earthquake in Haiti. : Python
- When:
Sun Jan 17 21:38:28 2010
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/aqsb8/urgent_call_for_experienced_python_programmers/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 295 milliseconds ago[-] Pretty much - I don't know if it was there when you posted, but they have a specific FAQ entry about that... Pretty much - I don't know if it was there when you posted, but they have [a specific FAQ entry](http://sahanapy.org/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestionsPython) about that... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2010-01-15
- About:
Blog | taza chocolate
- When:
Fri Jan 15 17:36:09 2010
- Where:
http://www.tazachocolate.com/Blog/P/144
- What:
- Order #1302 from Mark. We'll donate $30.25 for a total of $154.50 so far.
- About:
cjsmith: Flattery causes temporary insanity
- When:
Thu Jan 14 23:48:15 2010
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/946271.html?view=9834847#t9834847
- What:
- [info]eichin 2010-01-15 04:48 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Right, the question isn't "can I do this", it's "can I do this in the remaining 45 seconds I have free in my weekly schedule" :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
2010-01-08
- About:
iType keyboard brings a physical keyboard to the iPhone, but there's a catch -- Engadget
- When:
Fri Jan 8 15:38:29 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/itype-keyboard-brings-a-physical-keyboard-to-the-iphone-but-the/2#c24546192
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Jan 8th 2010 3:38PM Neutral @Chefgon A standalone word processor (1) will be much bigger than this [note that it appears to be almost as thin as the iphone itself] (2) would *still* need a connection to the phone to upload things anywhere real (3) wouldn't be running a mainstream OS and a broad set of applications... What I really want is a Lexmark Model M with a cradle (and extra battery) built in, but that would fit even *less* well in a briefcase :-)
- About:
iType keyboard brings a physical keyboard to the iPhone, but there's a catch -- Engadget
- When:
Fri Jan 8 14:56:12 2010
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/itype-keyboard-brings-a-physical-keyboard-to-the-iphone-but-the/1#c24544675
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Jan 8th 2010 2:55PM Neutral I would buy an android-usb version of this, but only if it worked in all apps; this cut&paste nonsense is not even vaguely acceptable... but I actually liked the Tandy 1xx and Cambridge Z88 back in the day - the 3x-5x advantage in typing speed is worth it for many of us...
2009-12-31
- About:
Coming soon: A Twitter camera. (Scripting News)
- When:
Wed Dec 30 21:29:25 2009
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2009/12/27/comingSoonATwitterCamera.html
- What:
- _Mark_ [Moderator] 24 minutes ago Samsung announced one of these earlier this year, and looking at engadget another one just hit the FCC; "the Instant Upload feature enables users to upload their shots to Facebook, Flickr, Photobox or Picasa, and for those who prefer to capture motion clips, it'll also shoot your videos to YouTube when a hotspot is found" http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/14/samsung-st55... and earlier http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/13/samsung-cram... It's an open question if that'll be more usable than the EyeFi. (The Smart Face recognition where it keeps track of up to twenty different *people* is interesting too, though...)
2009-12-30
- About:
When ctypes comes to the rescue : Python
- When:
Wed Dec 30 16:00:47 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/ajt2k/when_ctypes_comes_to_the_rescue/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 673 milliseconds ago[-] Right, it's the next bit of added code that will make the advantages of python of C more clear... "leaving the last 10 pics on the camera" or "watching a motion sensor and then triggering the camera" (although chdk might be more useful for that part, I'm still going to try this code, since I just got ahold of the same camera :-) Right, it's the _next_ bit of added code that will make the advantages of python of C more clear... "leaving the last 10 pics on the camera" or "watching a motion sensor and then triggering the camera" (although chdk might be more useful for that part, I'm still going to try this code, since I just got ahold of the same camera :-) formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Ten gadgets that defined the decade -- Engadget
- When:
Wed Dec 30 13:17:15 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/30/ten-gadgets-that-defined-the-decade/3#c24319502
- What:
- eichin Posted Dec 30th 2009 1:16PM Neutral > Though multitouch itself wasn't exposed to > the public at large until January 2007 when > Apple unveiled the original iPhone Sort of a weaselly way to ignore the fact that they *bought* that technology from FingerWorks, whose TouchStream "keyboards" had multitouch gestures as well as typing, and were on the market all the way back in 2004... *using* that in a phone was brilliant, sure, and Apple gets plenty of credit for exploiting/delivering the technology - but don't make it sound like they were even first-to-market with it.
- About:
#28 (Mailbox names with escaped chars them aren't returned correctly) – IMAPClient
- When:
Tue Dec 29 22:12:58 2009
- Where:
http://imapclient.freshfoo.com/ticket/28
- What:
- * in reply to: ↑ 2 Changed 3 days ago by eichin ¶ Replying to menno: Possible workaround (with debugging still in)...
2009-12-28
- About:
Apple Tablet – Will you buy one? — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Mon Dec 28 17:17:40 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/12/24/apple-tablet-will-you-buy-one/comment-page-1/#comment-52124
- What:
- _Mark_ December 25, 2009 at 12:47 am Yeah, OSX comes with Inkwell – too bad it’s useless to the point of embarassment (not just on standalone wacom tablets, but on a real Modbook.) Axiotron finally shipped QuickScript for the modbook, so using handwriting on the Actual Tablet Mac that Already Ships is finally plausible, no thanks to Apple… The modbook makes it pretty clear that a “tablet mac” is a non-starter (except for certain specialized niches, like CAD and drawing, where it’s dreamy – but basically as a “portable Cintiq” and if you haven’t heard of the Cintiq, the modbook isn’t for you either.) What *might* be plausible is a 7″ iPhone, given a few not-yet-revealed innovations (or maybe some not-yet-invented ones, which might suggest why it didn’t come out the last N times this particular fantasy has been revived…)
- About:
Kindle most gifted item in Amazon's history, e-books outsell physical tomes on Christmas Day -- Engadget
- When:
Mon Dec 28 17:16:02 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/27/kindle-most-gifted-item-in-amazons-history-e-books-outsell-phy/2#c24278118
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Dec 28th 2009 5:15PM Neutral @spin cycle Indeed, the lack of "buy this kindle-book as a gift" or even "add this kindle-book to my wishlist" really messed with my christmas shopping this year (yeah, yeah, #firstworldproblems, but isn't it odd that a company that delivers so well on the rest of christmas shopping, fails so completely at it with their flagship product?)
2009-12-20
- About:
Thinkpad Turtle: You can drive the little turtle by turning your laptop : Python
- When:
Sat Dec 19 21:42:14 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/affmc/thinkpad_turtle_you_can_drive_the_little_turtle/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 175 milliseconds ago[-] Here's the rest of it; needed an axis-reversal too... #!/usr/bin/python # linux version of http://code.activestate.com/recipes/576985/ # (via reddit) but drop the windll stuff import time import turtle import sys hdaps_file = "/sys/devices/platform/hdaps/position" def current_pos(): """Get current position from the file""" pos = file(hdaps_file).read().strip().strip("()") return map(int, pos.split(",")) def getXY(): raw_x, raw_y = current_pos() return raw_x / 10.0, raw_y / 10.0 def done(_x, _y): print "done!" turtle.bye() sys.exit() def main(): centerx, centery = getXY() turtle.pensize(3) turtle.onscreenclick(done) while 1: x, y = getXY() turtle.left(centerx-x) turtle.forward(centery-y) time.sleep(0.01) if __name__ == '__main__': main() Here's the rest of it; needed an axis-reversal too... #!/usr/bin/python # linux version of http://code.activestate.com/recipes/576985/ # (via reddit) but drop the windll stuff import time import turtle import sys hdaps_file = "/sys/devices/platform/hdaps/position" def current_pos(): """Get current position from the file""" pos = file(hdaps_file).read().strip().strip("()") return map(int, pos.split(",")) def getXY(): raw_x, raw_y = current_pos() return raw_x / 10.0, raw_y / 10.0 def done(_x, _y): print "done!" turtle.bye() sys.exit() def main(): centerx, centery = getXY() turtle.pensize(3) turtle.onscreenclick(done) while 1: x, y = getXY() turtle.left(centerx-x) turtle.forward(centery-y) time.sleep(0.01) if __name__ == '__main__': main() formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-12-18
- About:
Menno's Musings : /IMAPClient-0.5.1
- When:
Fri Dec 18 13:14:50 2009
- Where:
http://freshfoo.com/blog/IMAPClient-0.5.1
- What:
- _Mark_ [Moderator] 0 minutes ago in reply to Menno Smits Argh, I was misreading the traceback; once I back out my tweaks, the folders with just spaces (even leading one spaces) work just fine - the ones that get me failures now aren't `select_folder` problems at all, but `list_folders`. There are two tags that show up in `list_folders` output as `'\\'` - ie. a single backslash character. The real folder names were `"Living in town" plan` and `"Make" Magazine (ORA)`... and I see that's Ticket#28 exactly. (My mistake was an off-by-one error, associating the second failure-to-open "\" as a failure on the previous name with spaces in it.) Thanks for looking into it, sorry about the misleading report.
- About:
Thinkpad Turtle: You can drive the little turtle by turning your laptop : Python
- When:
Fri Dec 18 01:14:36 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/affmc/thinkpad_turtle_you_can_drive_the_little_turtle/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 31 seconds ago[-] On ubuntu karmic: sudo m-a a-i tp-smapi sudo modprobe hdaps cat /sys/devices/platform/hdaps/position (-419,-498) (so, replace getXY with something that opens and parses that...) On ubuntu karmic: sudo m-a a-i tp-smapi sudo modprobe hdaps cat /sys/devices/platform/hdaps/position (-419,-498) (so, replace getXY with something that opens and parses that...) formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Menno's Musings : /IMAPClient-0.5.1
- When:
Fri Dec 18 01:02:18 2009
- Where:
http://freshfoo.com/blog/IMAPClient-0.5.1
- What:
- * Expand ⇗ * Guest * blogblog _Mark_ [Moderator] 0 minutes ago Nicely pythonic interface. Still has the problem that most other imap packages have when dealing with gmail - fails to quote folder names with spaces in them. However, if I take the output of list_folders and apply if " " in folder: folder = '"%s"' % folder (ie. add double-quotes around them) it mostly works (and what would make sense to do if they had quotes?) (sorry for commenting here, but I timed out on digging up a way to file an issue in your generic trac install...)
2009-12-08
- About:
Google Goggles - Google Labs
- When:
Tue Dec 8 16:50:55 2009
- Where:
http://www.googlelabs.com/show_details?app_key=agtnbGFiczIwLXd3d3IUCxIMTGFic0FwcE1vZGVsGPqXLQw
- What:
- Loading... No comments _Mark_ 1 minute agoMark as spam I love the "recognize and do something useful" model. androlib qrcodes are recognized, but the "market://..." url doesn't actually fire up the market like it does with zxing. Also, given the book-face-recognition, any chance of a button to add the book to google-books-my-library, or even librarything?
2009-12-05
- About:
How would you change Gigapan's Epic camera robot? -- Engadget
- When:
Sat Dec 5 02:33:52 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/04/how-would-you-change-gigapans-epic-camera-robot/#comments
- What:
- eichin eichin Posted Dec 5th 2009 12:50AM Neutral @Deckmaster yeah, the biggest hassle in the beta was the shutter button - the canon point&shoots don't have remote trigger, and the olympus superzoom doesn't fit in the frame... chdk might help there, especially with HDR bracketing and positive acknowledgement that the shot got taken.
2009-11-18
- About:
Perl has ack, Ruby has rak, and now Python has grin (a grep replacement for programmers) : Python
- When:
Wed Nov 18 16:09:38 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/a4y6z/perl_has_ack_ruby_has_rak_and_now_python_has_grin/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 577 milliseconds ago[-] I recommend commandlinefu.com for versions of that which actually work; find -print0 and xargs -0 are keys there, and if you really don't want context, grep && echo is just grep -l... I recommend commandlinefu.com for versions of that which actually *work*; `find -print0` and `xargs -0` are keys there, and if you *really* don't want context, `grep && echo` is just `grep -l`... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
cjsmith: Non-academic subjects
- When:
Tue Nov 17 22:04:17 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/938460.html?view=9773276#t9773276
- What:
- Not quite what you asked... [info]eichin 2009-11-18 03:04 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully ... but my mom's second (younger) cat taught her older one how to play with toys... the older one had been supposedly been raised as a show cat and was well behaved and generally relaxed, but didn't really know what to do with toys until a few months after the second one arrived. (Reply to this)
- About:
Flickr: Discussing writing on business cards? in MOO (MiniCards, Business Cards & More, Printed by MOO)
- When:
Tue Nov 17 19:19:39 2009
- Where:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/moo/discuss/72157622826069626/
- What:
- writing on business cards? view profile Mark Eichin Pro User says: I got some of the "free" (ad-supported) cards, left the print side blank so I could scribble on them... I'm pleased with how the pictures came out, but ballpoint pen ink (even gels like the Pilot G-2) smears! So, two questions: Do the "green" cards use the same laminate and/or have the same problem? Have people found other kinds of pens that work better for this surface? Posted at 7:19PM, 17 November 2009 EST ( permalink | edit )
2009-11-10
- About:
cjsmith: Falling apart
- When:
Tue Nov 10 00:03:36 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/937659.html?view=9764283#t9764283
- What:
- Re: You better bring it. [info]eichin 2009-11-10 05:03 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Since you asked... that you were offering to buy socks *from* (or *off*) rather than *for*. It brought to mind the whole japanese underwear thing... at which point I tried to read "and get your oil changed for you" as a euphemism and failed badly :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Falling apart
- When:
Mon Nov 9 23:52:00 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/937659.html?view=9764027#t9764027
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-11-10 04:51 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Err, yeah, that (I did say that I didn't stick to it :-) Confused it with 37signals.com and a bit of failure-to-add (31 days + 12 months) and most of what I actually use is in hiveminder.com's "task review" which oversimplifies it a bit further. (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Falling apart
- When:
Mon Nov 9 21:36:29 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/937659.html?view=9762235#t9762235
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-11-10 02:29 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > I'd buy your socks I read that the Wrong Way(tm) the first time through :-) > I will not keep a zillion little pieces of paper One of the things I like about GTD/38folders is that it's about having a well-defined place to put things for later, so that you can trust that they're not lost, which lets you "let go of them" until they reappear. (full disclosure, I don't actually *stick* to a system like that myself as a lifestyle, but I do use pieces of it for work - being able to trust that I haven't "lost" something, I will get to it *then* instead of *now* still seems to work with casual use...) (Reply to this) (Parent)
2009-10-22
- About:
Organize your cables with Dotz — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Thu Oct 22 14:51:16 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/10/22/organize-your-cables-with-dotz/comment-page-1/#comment-46875
- What:
- _Mark_ October 22, 2009 at 2:51 pm I’m currently using p-touch labels – hit print twice, that leaves a big gap in the middle to wrap around the cable itself. The dotz are cute, if you only have one thing per category, but usually I want to know *which* computer or *which* external drive the cord is for…
2009-10-21
- About:
projman #18771: comments by Mark Eichin (Logilab.org)
- When:
Wed Oct 21 13:14:25 2009
- Where:
http://www.logilab.org/ticket/18771
- What:
- load left description Sort comments sent by Mark Eichin and create tickets when needed: 1. http://www.logilab.org/card/LogilabDebianRepository suggests adding to /etc/apt/sources.list; as far back as hardy, it was a lot cleaner to instead put your additions in the .d, perhaps in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/logilab.list 2. http://ftp.logilab.org/pub/projman/projman-0.14.0.tar.gz doesn't exist, though http://www.logilab.org/project/projman points there; looks like it only has up to the 0.13.x releases. 3. both projman and projman-gui start up with: /var/lib/python-support/python2.6/projman/lib/project.py:28: DeprecationWarning: the md5 module is deprecated; use hashlib instead import md5 4. firing up projman-gui without a file and clicking on the Tasks tab gets: new (<gtk.ImageMenuItem object at 0x8daa0a4 (GtkImageMenuItem at 0x8dfd078)>,) Traceback (most recent call last): File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.6/projman/projmanedit/main.py", line 124, in on_notebook1_switch_page self.taskeditor.update_on_switch_page() File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.6/projman/projmanedit/gui/taskedit.py", line 291, in update_on_switch_page self.current_task = self.app.project.root_task AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'root_task' 5. /usr/share/doc/projman/README.Debian says: the documention for projman is in /usr/share/doc/projman-common/user-manual.pdf In fact, there is no projman-common package; /usr/share/doc/projman /user_manual.xml appears to have the raw docbook source, though... 6. Don't put a closed mailing list in /usr/share/doc/projman/README for a debian package as a contact address...
2009-10-19
- About:
Is it possible to write a Python app with a device file api? : Python
- When:
Mon Oct 19 16:53:32 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/9ufl7/is_it_possible_to_write_a_python_app_with_a/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 682 milliseconds ago[-] Fuse is the wrong layer (device-opens don't go through it.) fusd is the right layer, but hasn't been touched since 2003, apparently... Fuse is the wrong layer (device-opens don't go through it.) [fusd](http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/software/fusd/) **is** the right layer, but hasn't been touched since 2003, apparently... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-10-15
- About:
Video on the Web - Dive Into HTML5 : programming
- When:
Thu Oct 15 01:12:00 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9u7cr/video_on_the_web_dive_into_html5/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 341 milliseconds ago[-] The mention of matroska seems to come out of nowhere... love the fonts, except that I'm not sure how to tell which ones I'm actually getting, even after reading the style tag... The mention of matroska seems to come out of nowhere... _love_ the fonts, except that I'm not sure how to tell which ones I'm actually getting, even after reading the style tag... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-10-13
- About:
Q&A: Ask the Google Mobile Team! - Google Product Ideas
- When:
Tue Oct 13 18:29:56 2009
- Where:
http://productideas.appspot.com/#15/e=276d9&t=276da&f=27624&v=24
- What:
- "The G1 internal memory isn't getting any bigger, but apps are; when will pushing apps out to microSD be a real OS feature, instead of a root-only hack?" _Mark_, Cambridge, MA View responses
2009-10-06
- About:
I want to divorce my iPhone (Scripting News)
- When:
Tue Oct 6 18:27:01 2009
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2009/09/23/iWantToDivorceMyIphone.html
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 week ago Also I'm pretty sure you don't get #3, bluetooth tethering, with Android (even with the "alternate" firmware.) The first two work fine on my G1, though - there are a variety of phonecam->webservice apps, with geotagging.
2009-10-03
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Oct 2 23:11:12 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7653#p7653
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:10 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 15 If the upgrade works, that's interesting, but 9.10 is supposed to go final in the next couple of weeks, and if it doesn't install that's going to be a problem (though I guess Ubuntu install media for old releases doesn't really go away :-)
2009-10-02
- About:
What is the perfect computer for Grandma? — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Fri Oct 2 14:04:44 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/10/02/what-is-the-perfect-computer-for-grandma/comment-page-1/#comment-45497
- What:
- _Mark_ October 2, 2009 at 1:48 pm I’ll note that these devices keep being a little too niche to survive (though it is interesting that the Peek email-only not-a-pda has lasted for two years.) I’d suggest a Mac instead (a mac mini and decent sized flat screen, if cost is an issue) – features like “magnify screen on hotkey” and screen-reading/voice activation turn out to be quite helpful to many seniors (that’s one of the big wins of the Kindle, too – not having to buy rare “large print” editions, just setting it to large text, is a boon to both eyestrain and dignity.)
- About:
Bug #434398 in Terminator: “traceback: Expected `string' got `bool' for key /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_blink_mode”
- When:
Thu Oct 1 23:56:25 2009
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/terminator/+bug/434398
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 3 seconds ago: #5 Unsurprisingly, selecting "unset key" changes it to "system" and removes the line from the file, and terminator stops complaining. Probably not worth digging too much more, if it really is an unusual value - others can find this ticket and make the same change... (odd, though, having set it to "system", it doesn't blink in terminator, but it *does* blink in a freshly started gnome-terminal. that's a bug for another day, though :-)
2009-09-25
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 25 16:05:03 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2599&p=7559#p7559
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Karmic Alternate installer works again! PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:04 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 14 I thought I was, actually, up until it prompted me for a subject :-} Then I noticed there were about five other threads talking about the same issue, and figured it was easier to just leave it than to go chasing all of them down...
- About:
A logic gate simulator, inspired by Logicly. I plan to use this with my students later this term. Feedback welcome. : programming
- When:
Fri Sep 25 01:30:49 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9nu5z/a_logic_gate_simulator_inspired_by_logicly_i_plan/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 274 milliseconds ago[-] Have you considered adding race detection? Something I did for a thesis project decades ago - if you have a minimum and maximum propagation delay for a gate, you can take your usual HI/LOW/UNDRIVEN and add EARLYHI/EARLYLOW - then any EARLY that doesn't make it to the actual state represents a race or "glitch" condition. Not sure if that's too high level for the course, but if you get as far as actually building circuits... Have you considered adding [race detection](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Race_condition.svg)? Something I did for a thesis project decades ago - if you have a minimum and maximum propagation delay for a gate, you can take your usual HI/LOW/UNDRIVEN and add EARLY_HI/EARLY_LOW - then any EARLY that doesn't make it to the actual state represents a race or "glitch" condition. Not sure if that's too high level for the course, but if you get as far as actually building circuits... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Thu Sep 24 22:09:21 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7550#p7550
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:09 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 13 eichin wrote: Same friend points out that today's 9.10 doesn't work for him either. Sounds like my next step is [list=] [*]install 9.04 [*]set up a kernel build tree [*]try git-bisect on it... [/list] Or even better... wait! The 20090923 Karmic installer finds the drive just fine, on the same machine I've had the earlier problems on...
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Thu Sep 24 22:06:42 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2599
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Karmic Alternate installer works again! PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:06 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 12 Woohoo! I just tried the latest karmic: Code: 725649408 Sep 23 03:49 karmic-alternate-powerpc+ps3.iso f032048bc370521b802ddcfe2c34595d karmic-alternate-powerpc+ps3.iso on fresh 700M CDR media - and it finds the ps3 optical drive just fine, and talks to the wireless. I haven't done a fresh install from it (haven't copied off stuff from the 9.04 install.) So (1) somebody fixed something (no idea who, but thanks :-) (2) If you've had trouble, now's a good time to try again!
2009-09-23
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Wed Sep 23 12:58:22 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2547&p=7542#p7542
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: No common cd rom drive detected...:( PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:58 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 11 anton95 wrote: Something wrong with the model of cd-drive? Does 9.04 work for you? If so, then obviously not (since it's the code that changed, not the hardware...)
2009-09-22
- About:
cjsmith: Can I call it, or what?
- When:
Tue Sep 22 15:28:35 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/929508.html?view=9652452#t9652452
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-09-22 07:28 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully (oh yeah - and be sure you have pictures of Duchess for the cover, or at least the dedication page :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Can I call it, or what?
- When:
Tue Sep 22 15:25:51 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/929508.html?view=9652196#t9652196
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-09-22 07:23 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This > I wish I knew enough to write a book. Ah well -- maybe someday I will know more! Ah, but what you know *now* is "the things that you would like to have already known". Write them down somewhere (or just tag this post "book fodder") and it'll help sort through the answers you pick up in the next couple of years, when it comes time to write... (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
Bug #434398 in Terminator: “traceback: Expected `string' got `bool' for key /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_blink_mode”
- When:
Mon Sep 21 22:36:37 2009
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/terminator/+bug/434398
- What:
- Bug #434398: This report is public edit traceback: Expected `string' got `bool' for key /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_blink_mode
2009-09-21
- About:
Facebook | Home
- When:
Mon Sep 21 16:23:17 2009
- Where:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home
- What:
- Mark Eichin You mean these? http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/2539174993/ They have an "extra" or two off to the side, maybe you could borrow one :-) 2 seconds ago · Delete
2009-09-15
- About:
Open Source Is Really About Documentation – Twisted vs. Tornado : Python
- When:
Tue Sep 15 16:00:31 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/9kmi9/open_source_is_really_about_documentation_twisted/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 17 seconds ago[-] True, but twisted.web is (or at least should be) a "gateway" app - HTTP is about the least subtle protocol out there, so you should be able to look at twisted.web and learn about just the twisted part, since you already "get" the HTTP part (and then apply what you've learned to something more interesting like twisted.words.) On top of that, 90% of everything is HTTP anyway... True, but twisted.web is (or at least should be) a "gateway" app - HTTP is about the least subtle protocol out there, so you should be able to look at twisted.web and learn about just the twisted part, since you already "get" the HTTP part (and then apply what you've learned to something more interesting like twisted.words.) On top of that, [90% of everything is HTTP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law) anyway... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Tue Sep 15 13:43:26 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2563&p=7485#p7485
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Installation problems with Jaunty and 8.10 PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:42 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 10 amitabhishek wrote: Then mine too has those sparkly little stars. So I guess mine is an updated firmware. I think in my case the problem lies with the media (CD) I am planning to burn a new CD using a different software on a different computer. But in the meanwhile can you please write the steps that you took to install. Looking around the forum, a *lot* of people have had trouble with bad media, so that's definitely worth a shot (verifying the media by reading it back in another drive probably wouldn't hurt either... As for actual install steps: * (once back at the beginning) repartition the disk (from the ps3 menu), picking "10g for other os" and "fast". I assume this destroys stuff saved on the ps3, but I don't have anything there... * burn a disk of ubuntu 9.04 "alternate". I used a DVD-R, rather than a CD - faster, and I had a stack of them handy * stick it in the ps2, find "other os" under system tools, install it (apparently there are compatibility issues with different versions, so doing this each time is probably worth it even if it doesn't look necessary) * select boot other OS, and boot now (with the CD still in the drive.) * notice two penguins and a bunch of text, and a kboot prompt; just hit enter here... and in my case, keep hitting enter at most/all prompts until it installed...
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Mon Sep 14 23:43:49 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2563&p=7467#p7467
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Installation problems with Jaunty and 8.10 PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:43 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 9 After flailing around with the daily build of karmic (9.10) (which doesn't currently see the blueray drive) I installed Jaunty (9.04, ie the current actual release) on an 80G-"fat" and it worked fine. I did do this after doing an update of the ps3 itself ("3.0" with the sparkly desktop instead of just the wave) which might matter (at least some of the instructions say "do the update first") but the failures I've had have all had error messages, I haven't seen hangs...
2009-09-12
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Sat Sep 12 00:05:11 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7442#p7442
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:04 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 8 Same friend points out that today's 9.10 doesn't work for him either. Sounds like my next step is [list=] [*]install 9.04 [*]set up a kernel build tree [*]try git-bisect on it... [/list]
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 23:49:44 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7441#p7441
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:49 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 7 And I just took the base ps3 firmware rev (3.0 "OMG SPARKLY") and now mine also says 304R 5055, so that pretty much eliminates drive firmware rev as the issue.
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 22:30:17 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7440#p7440
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:29 pm Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:05 am Posts: 6 A friend of mine just checked his 80G that he installed 9.04 on: Code: Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00 Vendor: SONY Model: PS-SYSTEM 304R Rev: 5055 Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 00 (Slightly higher drive-firmware rev, and it worked just fine with the 9.04 installer; he's going to try karmic too, just to check.)
2009-09-11
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 04:27:16 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2419&p=7430#p7430
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Cant install ubuntu 9.10 or 8.10 PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:27 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 am Posts: 5 9.10 is currently flagged as "doesn't fit on an actual CD" but the 714M version I grabbed a few days ago burns to a dvd fine, and boots off of it... once it boots it can't finish the install, but it does get far enough to try, and let me poke around (so it might work on different/older hardware, YMMV.) Report this post Delete post Top Edit post Reply with quote
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 04:23:52 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2488&p=7428#p7428
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Can't reboot to XMB after failed install PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:23 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 am Posts: 4 Who do we contact to usefully suggest mentioning that in Code: kboot.msg ? https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kboot-installer/+bug/277839 started with a request to put it there, and ended up as text in the release notes, it might be worth pushing on it again (since petitboot, the suggested "right" answer, isn't integrated yet...)
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 04:14:12 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2547&p=7427#p7427
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: No common cd rom drive detected...:( PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:13 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 am Posts: 3 I commented on this over in the karmic thread, but about an 80G machine; it might be useful to know: if you go to a shell (hit alt-left arrow until you see a "hit enter to open a shell", or just select the start-a-shell option from the installer menu) and you run Code: cat /proc/scsi/scsi what drive version shows up? For example, I have Code: CD-ROM SONY PS-SYSTEM 304R 5044 but most google hits say 302R and either 4109 or 4084... which makes me wonder if this is "newer drives that don't work yet"...
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 03:25:41 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7425#p7425
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:25 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 am Posts: 2 (oddly enough, "eject /dev/sg0" works, though dmesg shows ioctl errors, so I suspect that's just eject having raw-scsi low-level support. At least confirms that it's talking to the hardware, but...)
- About:
PSUbuntu Forums
- When:
Fri Sep 11 03:16:39 2009
- Where:
http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&p=7424#p7424
- What:
- eichin Online Post subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:16 am Send private message Profile Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 am Posts: 1 Has anyone actually had a karmic install work with a "304R" drive (brand-new 80G, just pre-slim), instead of the 302R that shows up in google? I dug into the "couldn't detect cdrom" a bit, and found this: Code: ps3_system_bus_match:362: dev=7.0(sb_01), drv=7.0(ps3rom): match scsi1 : ps3rom scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM SONY PS-SYSTEM 304R 5044 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 scsi 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5 and in fact it created /dev/sg0 which is the generic scsi low-level interface (ie. "well, it's a scsi device but we don't know what to do with it") but no /dev/sr0... that was with daily/current/karmic-alternate-powerpc+ps3.iso from 9/9/2009... Also there's no sr_mod in /lib/modules, but I don't see one on my desktop post 2.6.27 either...
2009-09-04
- About:
Woot: The Community: Woots: iRobot Roomba 530 Robotic Vacuum with Virtual Wall
- When:
Fri Sep 4 00:13:27 2009
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3400363&PageIndex=14&ReplyCount=531#post3414305
- What:
- eichin send message silversalute wrote:Well, that didn't take long. It pretty much comes ready to go. ... My dogs took it in stride. Actually pretty quiet. Very cool technology. Very cool price! Nice pictures; mine looked exactly like that - different than the previous woot roomba 535, which came in more "new" packaging, but still well-enough protected in transit. Dropped it on the charger last night, ran it for 20m this morning, then ran it until it gave up this evening - I'll need to move some extension cords, and move one ikea table to a guest room or something, but otherwise it picked up a *lot* of detritus from a "clean" hardwood floor. (ps. The 500-series is *very different* from the 400, I'd given up on using an earlier one on the hardwood floor because all it did was kick stuff around; the 530 is much more effective as a vacuum, doesn't hit things as hard, and seems to "get out of trouble" more effectively, plus it's significantly easier to clean the brushes.)
2009-08-22
- About:
Blógünder Schlock » Blog Archive » G.I. Joekemon: Gotta Catch ‘em All
- When:
Sat Aug 22 17:03:42 2009
- Where:
http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/11/gi-joekemon-gotta-catch-em-all/
- What:
- # # eichin Says: August 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm > I can buy into a submarine that looks like a fighter jet, because technology maybe could do that. Umm, has done? The “Deep Flight Super Falcon”, one of the accessory craft to Tom Perkins “Maltese Falcon” yacht… There’s a related TED talk too, they’ve shipped a couple. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/06/eod.luxury.submarines/index.html
2009-08-16
- About:
The mystery of immortal, migrating sockets and Python's getstatusoutput. : Python
- When:
Sun Aug 16 19:22:49 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/99709/the_mystery_of_immortal_migrating_sockets_and/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 235 milliseconds ago[-] I think that's just the list of related functions; it affects the file descriptor itself. execve(2) talks about actually performing the close. The only trick with using it in python is that usually you have a file() or socket.socket object, and you want .fileno() to pass to fcntl.fcntl. I think that's just the list of related functions; it affects the file descriptor itself. execve(2) talks about actually performing the close. The only trick with using it in python is that usually you have a `file()` or `socket.socket` object, and you want `.fileno()` to pass to `fcntl.fcntl`. formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
find process associated with a port | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Wed Aug 12 19:05:35 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/144/find-process-associated-with-a-port
- What:
- lsof -i tcp:25 gives a little more info; *both* fuser and lsof need root privileges to report processes other than the ones they run as, though (whereas netstat -ap will at least show you the port is open, though it won't find the pid without privileges... Comment by eichin 1 second ago
- About:
The mystery of immortal, migrating sockets and Python's getstatusoutput. : Python
- When:
Wed Aug 12 18:31:29 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/99709/the_mystery_of_immortal_migrating_sockets_and/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 503 milliseconds ago[-] I suspect they'd have found it a lot faster using lsof -i, that's my first choice went hunting this (relatively common) problem... on the prevention side, fcntl.FD_CLOEXEC is useful... I suspect they'd have found it a lot faster using `lsof -i`, that's my first choice went hunting this (relatively common) problem... on the prevention side, `fcntl.FD_CLOEXEC` is useful... formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-08-06
- About:
Woot: The Community: The Community: Woots: Philips 42” Full HD 1080p with Pixel Plus HD
- When:
Thu Aug 6 16:04:07 2009
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3302432&PageIndex=10&ReplyCount=380#post3371576
- What:
- * Aug 6, 2009 4:03 PM * permalink eichin send message eichin wrote:The fedex tracking number finally showed up on my receipt page (which is a little odd, with most places the numbers show up before the box is even packed) and it was indeed shipped within the promised 5 days... and apparently got a "shipment exception" "Damaged, handling per shipper instructions" 2 days after that. (I'm glad it got caught in-system so *I* don't have to deal with it :-) Took a little nagging (would be nice if the My Account page actually had updates on exception handling) but mine finally arrived about an hour ago, yay :-) The shipping box was a little chewed on but the screen was perfect; the remote actually worked, so the setup screen was no problem. Now to find adaptors and cables for everything else :-)
2009-08-03
- About:
Batch image resize | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Sun Aug 2 23:26:28 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/2846/batch-image-resize
- What:
- `ls` is bug-prone, just use * if you care about case, use *.[jJ][pP][gG] or more sanely, find . -maxdepth 1 -iname '*.jpg' | while read a; do convert ...; done Comment by eichin 3 seconds ago
- About:
jessenoller.com - Interested in a Boston Python Conference?
- When:
Sun Aug 2 14:57:09 2009
- Where:
http://jessenoller.com/2009/08/01/interested-in-a-boston-python-conference/?dsq=13801703#comment-13801703
- What:
- * Expand ⇗ * Guest * blogblog _Mark_ 12 hours ago Also Boston weather is wretched in the summer (though this year it's shaping up to be *differently* wretched than past years...) Ned Batchelder is another noted local pythonista, if you're looking for experienced speakers (his Whirlwind C Extensions talk at pycon 2009 was very accessible.) (I'd certainly attend, and might try to come up with a talk. If you want students, you probably want a T-accessible location, even if it isn't downtown...)
- About:
Make: Online : Make: Science Room - Choosing a microscope
- When:
Sun Aug 2 01:59:17 2009
- Where:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/08/choosing_a_microscope_by_robert_bru.html
- What:
- Posted by: _Mark_ on August 1, 2009 at 10:58 PM I found this line tantalizing: > I planned to do a lot of photography through the microscope. Have you done that successfully with the 161? What kind of adapters are needed (the makershed page also makes only brief mention of the use of the secondary eyepiece for imaging...) Perhaps that would make a good follow-on article, especially with a lot of sample pictures :-) (I had a "toy" microscope as a kid, which did have one significant value - it made the fantastic photomicrographs that showed up on NOVA and other science TV a little more believable :-) Reply to this comment
2009-08-01
- About:
Woot: The Community: The Community: Woots: Sunpak Platinum Plus Tripod
- When:
Sat Aug 1 01:25:58 2009
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3330346&PageIndex=6&ReplyCount=220#post3364185
- What:
- * Aug 1, 2009 1:20 AM * permalink eichin send message My 3 arrived - one ends up in my office (for occasional out-the-window shots), one is stashed (open) near a good bird-watching window, the other will probably live in the car; they're surprisingly light, but just fine for setting up a small camera pre-aimed and pre-focussed on a birdfeeder...
2009-07-31
- About:
Wearable camcorder – uCorder — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Fri Jul 31 01:47:08 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/30/wearable-camcorder-ucorder/comment-page-1/#comment-39817
- What:
- _Mark_ July 31, 2009 at 1:46 am Oh, the stuntcam isn’t quite the model I have after all – mine is still only 352 x 288, for some reason I thought it was higher, and http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Smallest-Camcorder-Built-Memory/dp/B001KK5ZHW/ claims 640×240 (which is admittedly an unusual size, but closer.) But it’s far *more* wearable – you just clip it into a shirt pocket, or on to a shoulder strap for something else – the lens is above the top of the clip, so it just peeks over the top of your pocket. It’s much *smaller* than the ucorder – these are pack-of-gum form factor, an inch shorter and noticeably narrower (not as wide as a whiteboard marker, say…) though from the looks of the ucorder (in particular the 3-LED interface and some other oddities) I’d guess they had a common chipset or even main board… I’ve actually handed it to tech-savvy people and had them not realize it was a camera at all, which makes it an interesting backup camera for hiking trips and such; at 4G the storage outlasts the battery, and they have the same slot (but not the “mini LED flashlight” of the ucorder.) These first got a lot of attention in early 2009 when the nytimes published an article about people using them to sniff PINs at subverted ATMs :-)
2009-07-30
- About:
Come on baby light my Wi-Fire — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Thu Jul 30 17:25:31 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/28/come-on-baby-light-my-wi-fire/comment-page-1/#comment-39799
- What:
- _Mark_ July 30, 2009 at 5:25 pm The confusion comes from the fact that an access point *doesn’t* broadcast within a “radius” – signal drops off over distance, and is eventually overwhelmed by other noise sources, but any distance metric is a function of the antennas on *both* ends. (Of course, try explaining that on a product box in a store…) The radius given is at best a “typical” value based on “average” laptop antennas. With a better antenna at either end (or both), you can get more range; in the extreme case, you run the risk of violating FCC restrictions on the frequency band :-) (Ooh, and it works with the linux zd1211rw driver; that alone may make it a good choice for hooking up a DVR at the far end of the house from the access point…)
- About:
Wearable camcorder – uCorder — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Thu Jul 30 17:07:59 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/30/wearable-camcorder-ucorder/comment-page-1/#comment-39793
- What:
- Wearable camcorder – uCorder by Julie on July 30, 2009 · 1 comment in Audio / Video Gear, Digital Cameras, Spotlight Gadgets ucorderThe uCorder claims to be the world’s first wearable camcorder. It’s available in two versions. One with 1GB of internal memory and one with 2GB. Both include a microSD slot. The resolution isn’t very impressive at only 64o x 480, and there isn’t a a built-in LCD viewfinder. But I suppose the portability is supposed to make up for these deficiencies. They are priced at $79.99 – $99.99 +$15 Shipping. Tagged as: Camcorder If you don't want to miss new postings, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed. { 1 comment… read it below or add one } 1 _Mark_ July 30, 2009 at 5:07 pm Seems unlikely to be “first” given that I’ve had one of these for months – has more memory, same resolution, and costs half as much… http://www.amazon.com/Stunt-Cam-Stick-four-camera/dp/B0017HYHCM
- About:
Extra Cheese
- When:
Fri Jul 24 04:41:56 2009
- Where:
http://blog.extracheese.org/2009/07/a-brief-history-of-bitbacker-a-startup
- What:
- Posted by Mark Eichin at Fri Jul 24 03:41:32 2009 Interesting story; good for you for knowing when to kill it off (I'm sort of surprised you went that long without paying customers, even if not for the revenue, for the external validation...) Have you seen SpiderOak? They also chose multi-platform pure-python backup, but went the Strong Crypto Done Right path instead of S3; I met them at pycon, and it looks like they started even more recently but pulled together a bigger team. Makes an interesting contrast...
- About:
cjsmith: Virginia people: bald eagles
- When:
Fri Jul 24 04:29:47 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/918061.html?view=9507117#t9507117
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-24 08:29 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully ooh, eagles! It's interesting to note that these were apparently "natural" injuries (ie. not directly human-inflicted, though you can't discount habitat loss.) Also that the pictures show the clear value of having someone who can *hang on* to the bird for treatment without ending up more damaged than it is :-) (Reply to this)
- About:
The Thing About Git
- When:
Fri Jul 24 02:53:24 2009
- Where:
http://tomayko.com/writings/the-thing-about-git#comment-217105
- What:
- Another thank you! A coworker pointed me at this, turns out that “git add —patch” works fine with git-svn, too, and it really does give you more freedom to fix bugs right when you notice them (I'd been doing git-stash/fix/git-stash-pop but this is much smoother.) Best of both worlds… — _Mark_ on Friday, July 24, 2009 at 06:55 AM #
- About:
Belated happy first birthday, BFG « Chatterbox, Reloaded
- When:
Fri Jul 24 02:48:39 2009
- Where:
http://pauleveritt.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/belated-happy-first-birthday-bfg/#comment-62
- What:
- 1. _Mark_ Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. July 24, 2009 at 6:48 am | Reply mmm, so is there a tutorial that actually walks the “only what you need” path? I started with http://docs.repoze.org/bfg/current/narr/install.html which has the common but mistaken idea that I want to know anything about paster or setup.py – did I just find the wrong starting point?
2009-07-23
- About:
cjsmith: Moon landing generational divide
- When:
Wed Jul 22 22:18:35 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/917012.html?view=9505812#t9505812
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-23 02:18 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully I remember watching some of the later Apollo mission news live; I ended up taking the space program *and* the cold war a lot more personally than most of my peers. That said, it's somewhat comforting that I can get high-res detail of the moon's surface (you know, landing is a lot more likely to work when you don't need the Hottest Pilot Ever to handle discovering boulders in your way when you have 20 seconds of fuel left?) on my laptop, in 3d, with data from *Japan's* space program, for free - ie. data shared in scientific interest instead of competitive nationalism... (Reply to this)
2009-07-22
- About:
Read just the IP address of a device | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Wed Jul 22 12:54:39 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/2723/read-just-the-ip-address-of-a-device
- What:
- All of these assume you have one interface which is basically never true these days :-) it's worth installing "moreutils" to get ifdata -pa wlan0 which gives just the dotted-quad, no further parsing needed (unlike the "ip" example) Comment by eichin 1 second ago
2009-07-20
- About:
whois surfing my web ? | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Mon Jul 20 16:50:00 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/2690/whois-surfing-my-web-
- What:
- on a big machine, this can be expensive (we used to joke about having an "lsof processor" on a multi-core machine...) ss or netstat will be much more efficient... ss -t 'sport = :http' Comment by eichin 1 second ago
2009-07-16
- About:
Least astonishment in python: the mutable default argument : Python
- When:
Thu Jul 16 13:27:49 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/91kzt/least_astonishment_in_python_the_mutable_default/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 216 milliseconds ago[-] Indeed, and it surprises me that the other references only talk about the confusion; we teach it to people early because it's useful to have a near-equivalent of C's function-local "static" variables (though a memoizing decorator is better, it doesn't always fit the problem.) Also several of the comments talk about the argument being global - that's simply not true, it's not in the global namespace at all: def foo(bar=[]): bar.append(len(bar)) return bar print bar NameError: name 'bar' is not defined Indeed, and it surprises me that the other references only talk about the confusion; we teach it to people early because it's *useful* to have a near-equivalent of C's function-local "static" variables (though a memoizing decorator is better, it doesn't always fit the problem.) Also several of the comments talk about the argument being global - that's simply not true, it's not in the global namespace at all: def foo(bar=[]): bar.append(len(bar)) return bar print bar NameError: name 'bar' is not defined formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
count how many times a string appears in a (source code) tree | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Thu Jul 16 00:38:16 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/2665/count-how-many-times-a-string-appears-in-a-source-code-tree
- What:
- Strictly speaking this is how many *lines* upon which the string appears: echo foo foo |grep -c foo 1 You can use sed to add newlines after your input string to put each on a line by itself, to count them accurately: grep -r foo app/ | sed -e 's/foo/&\n/g' |grep -c foo Comment by eichin in 0 seconds
- About:
I hate `echo X | Y` | commandlinefu.com
- When:
Thu Jul 16 00:17:40 2009
- Where:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/1749/i-hate-echo-x-y
- What:
- Doesn't work in bash-invoked-as-sh, so it's something you need to remember doesn't work in #!/bin/sh scripts... doesn't work in dash either (basically, "not in POSIX at all") Comment by eichin 1 second ago
- About:
cjsmith: I heartily recommend the Bike Doctor!
- When:
Thu Jul 16 00:12:06 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/916401.html?view=9494193#t9494193
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-16 04:11 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully A blinking light draws the eye wonderfully (disproportional to its actual brightness), but doesn't really help you see anything else... also, white LEDs are relatively recent, really powerful ones are less than 5 years old and are still being actively developed. But yeah, California, summer time, and your schedule has sounded pretty dayshifted...
2009-07-15
- About:
Woot: The Community: The Community: Woots: Philips 42” Full HD 1080p with Pixel Plus HD
- When:
Wed Jul 15 11:34:59 2009
- Where:
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3302432&PageIndex=9&ReplyCount=339#post3323908
- What:
- The fedex tracking number finally showed up on my receipt page (which is a little odd, with most places the numbers show up before the box is even packed) and it was indeed shipped within the promised 5 days... and apparently got a "shipment exception" "Damaged, handling per shipper instructions" 2 days after that. (I'm glad it got caught in-system so *I* don't have to deal with it :-)
2009-07-14
- About:
Design your own Kindle (and win it) with Engadget, Amazon, and Adafruit Industries!
- When:
Tue Jul 14 13:47:54 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/14/design-your-own-kindle-2-and-win-it-with-engadget-amazon-and/1#comments
- What:
- _Mark_ @ Jul 14th 2009 1:47PM Exactly - I saw the headline and was very disappointed when I saw the article. It's more "draw your own bookcover". (And since I wouldn't carry the DX without the protective case, the etching is kind of pointless... custom kindle-is-turned-off images will get seen more often :-)
2009-07-10
- About:
cjsmith: Frustration
- When:
Fri Jul 10 19:14:17 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/914330.html?view=9481882#t9481882
- What:
- trike geekery [info]eichin 2009-07-10 11:13 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Two-in-front is called a "tadpole" trike, two-in-back is called a "delta"; tadpoles are more complicated (in particular the wheels need to steer different amounts, like in a car, though there's a clever symmetric linkage that does that) but a lot more stable (usually seated with a lower center of mass, as well, but it's the geometry alone that makes them safer when braking, deltas are more likely to tip.) That said, a common "delta" design actually has a rear shelf between the back wheels for serious cargo capacity - if you're not going to go at speed or down hills *anyway*, it's simpler and cheaper to build for hauling. (On the other hand I saw one california-built tadpole that had a big enough platform over the single rear wheel that the builder could go out biking with his large dog riding in back :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Feep, feep, feep -- baby birds are hungry!
- When:
Fri Jul 10 19:01:50 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/914693.html?view=9481477#t9481477
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-10 11:01 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > They're all on timers Of course my first image was of you picking up each bird, turning the knob (on the bird), putting it back, moving along to the next... (Reply to this)
- About:
cjsmith: Partial success
- When:
Fri Jul 10 15:15:25 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/914447.html?view=9480719#t9480719
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-10 07:15 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully hmm, did I show you my flashlight when I was out there? That has a 1W LED (luxeon, I think?) that replaces the halogen bulb, getting the same brightness (though more blue, less yellow) and 2x the battery life. That's usually the kind of LED used in headlights, lots of battery draw but very good for seeing at night... (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Frustration
- When:
Fri Jul 10 15:01:02 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/914330.html?view=9480602#t9480602
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-10 07:00 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Mine is pretty close to this one: http://www.terratrike.com/tour.php There is a custom pouch for back of the top of the seat that is bigger than you'd expect (two or three fanny-packs in volume, maybe?) which is enough for bike tools and such, water bottles go various places on the frame, and panniers mount on either side of the rear wheel (the proportions are a little different from normal bikes, but I think I used a set from my old mountain bike...) (Reply to this) (Parent)
2009-07-09
- About:
A key that’s a keyring — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Thu Jul 9 13:08:18 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/09/a-key-thats-a-keyring/comment-page-1/#comment-38745
- What:
- _Mark_ July 9, 2009 at 1:08 pm I’ve always wanted keys that flipped out of a swiss-army-style knife - fairly compact and the other end would have useful tools too. (Probably a bad idea in the face of modern airport security, and more than half of the “keys” I carry today are electronic anyhow…)
2009-07-08
- About:
What is wrong with ruby? : programming
- When:
Wed Jul 8 00:56:58 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8z2dj/what_is_wrong_with_ruby/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 173 milliseconds ago[-] I found python (via QMtest) after years of guru level perl work (incl. pure-perl crypto, and writing for TPJ) and now the only reason I even look at perl is to translate it; while I've fixed bugs in ruby programs, it looks ("smells") far too much like perl for me to want to actually get deeper. (Also, the documentation bit mentioned here; I've actually used the Poignant Guide to convince people to look elsewhere...) I found python (via QMtest) after years of guru level perl work (incl. pure-perl crypto, and writing for TPJ) and now the only reason I even look at perl is to translate it; while I've fixed bugs in ruby programs, it looks ("smells") far too much like perl for me to want to actually get deeper. (Also, the documentation bit mentioned here; I've actually used the Poignant Guide to convince people to look elsewhere...) formatting help hide help save cancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * edit * delete are you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-07-07
- About:
Strap your gear to your leg with the Grab-it Pack — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Tue Jul 7 16:56:50 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/07/strap-your-gear-to-your-leg-with-the-grab-it-pack/comment-page-1/#comment-38620
- What:
- _Mark_ July 7, 2009 at 4:56 pm If a water bottle fits in one of those pockets, I could see upgrading the spontaneous-hike pack I keep in the trunk to one of these; right now I have a butt-pack with some energy bars, water bottle, bug spray, small first aid kit, and polarizing filters - this might be less cumbersome, especially when also wearing a jacket…
- About:
cjsmith: Frustration
- When:
Tue Jul 7 13:18:42 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/914330.html?view=9466522#t9466522
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-07 05:18 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Yeah, recumbent trikes are great as far as riding experience goes (you can just stop, you're not hunched over, you can *see the sky* while biking, your arms and shoulders are entirely relaxed) and though prices have come way down since I got mine, they're still probably the most expensive bike category (I saw a recent used model on consignment locally for $800) and they can be mechanically complicated (I still need to get the shifter on mine properly adjusted. Also it needs to stop raining :-) Recumbent bikes are priced closer to traditional bikes these days, and most of the geometries I've seen do seem to let you set your feet down flat without stretching, when stopping... (Reply to this) (Parent)
2009-07-05
- About:
My programming quotes file was well received when I posted it to reddit three years ago, here is a much updated and expanded version. : programming
- When:
Sun Jul 5 00:50:16 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8y348/my_programming_quotes_file_was_well_received_when/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 327 milliseconds ago[-] Chris Maden - probably http://crism.maden.org/ -- according to my quotes file, dated 2005 (TFA only has a vague attribution) Chris Maden - probably http://crism.maden.org/ -- according to *my* quotes file, dated 2005 (TFA only has a vague attribution) formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Start your Python project with optparse and logging : Python
- When:
Sun Jul 5 00:06:56 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/8xf4n/start_your_python_project_with_optparse_and/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 638 milliseconds ago[-] But it's a C-specific artifact; since statements are not expressions in python, all it does is confuse the reader, as the interpreter will raise SyntaxError if you try to use assignment where you meant equals... But it's a *C-specific* artifact; since statements are not expressions in python, all it does is confuse the reader, as the interpreter will raise `SyntaxError` if you try to use assignment where you meant equals... formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!" * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-07-04
- About:
cjsmith: The cost of a social life
- When:
Sat Jul 4 19:32:36 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/912658.html?view=9460242#t9460242
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-04 11:32 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully sorry about that :-} I didn't think that one through beyond leaving the choice of restaurant to you... with last-minute plane tickets and hotel, food was "in the noise" even more than usual. (That said, it was a *wonderful* visit and dessert at il Postale was inspired :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Surgery (this post is not graphic)
- When:
Sat Jul 4 19:26:29 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/913664.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-07-04 11:16 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Congrats - this is definitely a level beyond needles :-) (Reply to this)
- About:
cjsmith: Wildlife Center
- When:
Sat Jul 4 19:25:18 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/913360.html?view=9460176#t9460176
- What:
- Critters! [info]eichin 2009-07-04 11:25 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully One of my nieces volunteered at a similar center in Long Island, throughout her highschool years; she had a particularly memorable story of rescuing an injured Cormorant from traffic (though even with her training, managing a flailing cormorant in the back seat of an SUV is still quite a challenge :-) (Reply to this)
2009-06-24
- About:
Deciphering Glyph: A Chicken in Every Pot and a Python on Every Port
- When:
Tue Jun 23 20:48:13 2009
- Where:
http://glyph.twistedmatrix.com/2009/06/chicken-in-every-pot-and-python-on.html?showComment=1245804385560#c554996642256243721
- What:
- _Mark_ said... I'd have to agree: first step is documentation, perhaps with particular focus on how to get from existing code to twisted (it's easy enough to start from scratch in twisted, but not as easy as throwing together some battery-based python code without it and *then* realizing you need more...) Part of that should be making clear how incomplete (or not) some of the modules are (last I looked twisted.words didn't support any actual security - so either you have a feature gap or a marketing/documentation gap :-) I also have gone through several twisted books, but there's still a lot of mental friction to switch gears into the twisted mindset (even for someone with unix kernel internals experience...) June 23, 2009 5:46 PM
- About:
Blogger: Deciphering Glyph - Post a Comment
- When:
Tue Jun 23 20:46:42 2009
- Where:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8729083&postID=87106454220329610&page=1
- What:
- Blogger _Mark_ said... I'd have to agree: first step is documentation, perhaps with particular focus on how to get from existing code to twisted (it's easy enough to start from scratch in twisted, but not as easy as throwing together some battery-based python code without it and *then* realizing you need more...) Part of that should be making clear how incomplete (or not) some of the modules are (last I looked twisted.words didn't support any actual security - so either you have a feature gap or a marketing/documentation gap :-) I also have gone through several twisted books, but there's still a lot of mental friction to switch gears into the twisted mindset (even for someone with unix kernel internals experience...) June 23, 2009 5:46 PM Delete
2009-06-22
- About:
Trust No One - To be a good problem solver you have to be untrusting : programming
- When:
Mon Jun 22 16:20:25 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8uje6/trust_no_one_to_be_a_good_problem_solver_you_have/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 143 milliseconds ago[-] There are still positive things one can do, rather than merely seething, though; BITD (of expensive dot matrix printers) I was taught that you did not ask the user "is the power light on" - they'd answer yes. Instead you asked "what color is the light on the front" - they were less likely to read "what-did-you-screw-up" judgement into the question, and were thus less likely to try and give you the "right" answer, and would actually give you useful information... There are still positive things one can do, rather than merely seething, though; BITD (of expensive dot matrix printers) I was taught that you did *not* ask the user "is the power light on" - they'd answer yes. Instead you asked "what color is the light on the front" - they were less likely to read "what-did-you-screw-up" judgement into the question, and were thus less likely to try and give you the "right" answer, and would actually give you useful information... formatting helphide help savecancel you type: you see: *italics* italics **bold** bold [reddit!](http://reddit.com) reddit! * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 * item 1 * item 2 * item 3 > quoted text quoted text Here is some code: def foo(): print "hello, world!" Here is come code: def foo(): print "hello, world!" * permalink * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-06-18
- About:
Bug #346577 in dpkg (Ubuntu): “dpkg-source failed to rename file across filesystems”
- When:
Thu Jun 18 17:45:32 2009
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/346577
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 12 minutes ago: (permalink) Looks like debian fixed this for lenny in debbugs#507217 (dpkg-dev 1.14.24)
2009-06-12
- About:
The First Few Milliseconds of an HTTPS Connection : programming
- When:
Fri Jun 12 00:13:51 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8rcbd/the_first_few_milliseconds_of_an_https_connection/
- What:
- _Mark_ -1 points0 points1 point 470 milliseconds ago[-] Isn't that what http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication is for? Isn%27t+that+what+http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FServer_Name_Indication+is+for%3F * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-05-14
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Thu May 14 11:22:00 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/145/?page=1#snap_post742
- What:
- quote • edit post • report abuse eichin just now : You've perhaps been fooled by ... You've perhaps been fooled by the autodetection they do; if you're running your browser on a "geek bleeding-edge" linux distro, you get the possibilities list (since the browser string isn't enough to tell); on Mac OS and Windows you get a direct "download now" link for the version that matches the OS you're actually running.
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Thu May 14 11:15:52 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/147/
- What:
- Troubleshooting: Traceback in logs - bad character set re-encoding on linux quote • edit post • report abuse eichin just now : While digging for the missing-... While digging for the missing-Xact problem, I stumbled on this: 2009-05-14 01:13:27,797 DEBUG spider Monitor: examining /home/eichin/stufflog/2007-02/2007-02-21 with 6 files 2009-05-14 01:13:27,798 WARNING spider _hmac_whole_dir ignoring nonexisten path '/home/eichin/stufflog/2007-02/2007-02-21/20070221-013355.google evil maps.speakingfreely.wordpress_.We_canât_âfind_ourselvesâ_-_the_marketâ.clip' 2009-05-14 01:13:27,804 ERROR spider _observe_file failed: quarantining file /home/eichin/stufflog/2007-02/2007-02-21/20070221-013355.google evil maps.speakingfreely.wordpress_.We_canât_âfind_ourselvesâ_-_the_marketâ.clip Traceback (most recent call last): File "Pandora/Monitor.py", line 413, in _observe_dir File "Pandora/Monitor.py", line 166, in _observe_file File "Pandora/Util.py", line 137, in journal_info_for_fs_obj OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/eichin/stufflog/2007-02/2007-02-21/20070221-013355.google evil maps.speakingfreely.wordpress_.We_can\xc3\xa2\xc2\x80\xc2\x99t_\xc3\xa2\xc2\x80\xc2\x9cfind_ourselves\xc3\xa2\xc2\x80\xc2\x9d_-_the_market\xc3\xa2.clip' 2009-05-14 01:13:27,804 ERROR spider _observe_dir filed: quarantining directory /home/eichin/stufflog/2007-02/2007-02-21 Traceback (most recent call last): File "Pandora/Monitor.py", line 548, in _poll_filesystem_for_changes File "Pandora/Monitor.py", line 426, in _observe_dir UnboundLocalError: local variable 'seen' referenced before assignment Looks like the UnboundLocalError means that some clever exception handling is failing and obscuring the real exception handling. However, the more worrisome thing is the failure to open the file (which does exist)... stat displays the filename as File: `20070221-013355.google evil maps.speakingfreely.wordpress_.We_can\342\200\231t_\342\200\234find_ourselves\342\200\235_-_the_market\342.clip' if you want to try and reproduce it. Note that this is on linux (ubuntu 8.10 intrepid, ext3) and although MacOS treats filenames as having a character set, last I checked linux treated them as byte strings, so you may have some up-and-down conversion inconsistencies there... (If you're doing issue tracking, you probably want a separate issue for "why did I only see that a file was not getting backed up by trawling the logs" - that should be very visible to the user, though it might need some sort of filtering out of noise from "obvious" transient files...)
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Thu May 14 11:07:13 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/146/#snap_post740
- What:
- • watch Troubleshooting: No such Xact? quote • edit post • report abuse eichin just now : Uploads from my largest (in te... Uploads from my largest (in terms of backed up space) machine have stalled, and I see this recurring error in the logs: 2009-05-14 10:56:03,171 DEBUG spider netstorage: ping 2009-05-14 10:56:03,308 DEBUG spider Net: xact_id:4 (18305-1-7506) providing slice block/18305-1-282923 0-262144 2009-05-14 10:56:03,309 ERROR spider No such Xact: 4 18305-1-7506 The --repair option itself fails with the same error, and also a traceback (though it looks like it just fails to clean up after itself) 2009-05-14 02:21:01,790 DEBUG spider netstorage: pong 2009-05-14 02:21:37,206 DEBUG spider Net: xact_id:4 (18305-1-7506) providing slice block/18305-1-282923 0-262144 2009-05-14 02:21:37,207 ERROR spider No such Xact: 4 18305-1-7506 2009-05-14 02:21:49,669 DEBUG twisted Stopping factory 2009-05-14 02:21:49,670 INFO spider netstorage: connection lost 2009-05-14 02:21:49,671 ERROR twisted Unhandled Error Traceback (most recent call last): File "spider/cmdline/handlers/util.py", line 10, in _require_local_device File "spider/cmdline/handlers/repair.py", line 87, in repair File "twisted/internet/posixbase.py", line 220, in run File "twisted/internet/posixbase.py", line 228, in mainLoop --- --- File "twisted/internet/base.py", line 561, in runUntilCurrent File "spider/cmdline/handlers/repair.py", line 47, in connectionLost File "twisted/internet/base.py", line 342, in stop exceptions.RuntimeError: can't stop reactor that isn't running 2009-05-14 02:21:49,672 DEBUG twisted Main loop terminated. 2009-05-14 02:21:49,672 ERROR repair Could not complete server-assisted repair of local data files. « previous This message has been revised
2009-05-12
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Tue May 12 00:11:00 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/134/
- What:
- quote • edit post • report abuse eichin 5 minutes ago : Ah, thanks. (I don't normally... Ah, thanks. (I don't normally have a systray, but if I fire up "trayer" it does acquire a spideroak icon, which works.) « previous This message has been revised
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Tue May 12 00:09:40 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/134/
- What:
- eichin 2 days and 8 hours ago : I've never noticed a forum lin... I've never noticed a forum link on the linux client (I'm posting this from macos.) I notice that on the mac client the forum isn't in the main window, it's in a titlebar menu, which I don't have; I happen to use ratpoison as my windowmanger, if that matters, but I didn't think that was typically a WM feature on linux... is there a secure workaround? (I didn't see a CLI option for it either...) All revisions of this post are stored and publicly viewable. I've never noticed a forum link on the linux client (I'm posting this from macos.) I notice that on the mac client the forum isn't in the main window, it's in a titlebar menu, which I don't have; I happen to use ratpoison as my windowmanger, if that matters, but I didn't think that was typically a WM feature on linux... is there a secure workaround? (I didn't see a CLI option for it either...)
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Tue May 12 00:09:04 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/56/
- What:
- eichin 2 days and 8 hours ago : Simply separating out the abil... Simply separating out the ability to fetch block-hashes and actual blocks might be sufficient; it still becomes "mere access control" rather than having an independent cryptographic guarantee, but it should still be client-hacking-proof, even if you only do "no restores at all without this other password". (It also enables a "cheap backups/pay extra for restores" alternate business model, if the economics support the asymmetry, though realistically you want to encourage people to do test-restores to sustain their faith in the backups and it doesn't quite support that.) All revisions of this post are stored and publicly viewable. Simply separating out the ability to fetch block-hashes and actual blocks might be sufficient; it still becomes "mere access control" rather than having an independent cryptographic guarantee, but it should still be client-hacking-proof, even if you only do "no restores at all without this *other* password". (It also enables a "cheap backups/pay extra for restores" alternate business model, if the economics support the asymmetry, though realistically you want to encourage people to do test-restores to sustain their faith in the backups and it doesn't quite support that.)
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Tue May 12 00:08:44 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/133/
- What:
- eichin 2 days and 9 hours ago : On my 1024x800 eeepc screen (n... On my 1024x800 eeepc screen (not sure if this matters) the progress bar now displays "00.812 G"; debian lenny, spideroak v7111 (presumably it should display 100.812G, since the bar is also at about half of 200G :-) All revisions of this post are stored and publicly viewable. On my 1024x800 eeepc screen (not sure if this matters) the progress bar now displays "00.812 G"; debian lenny, spideroak v7111 (presumably it should display 100.812G, since the bar is also at about half of 200G :-)
- About:
The SpiderOak Forum
- When:
Tue May 12 00:08:27 2009
- Where:
https://spideroak.com/forum/threads/id/93/
- What:
- eichin 2 days and 10 hours ago : More useful than charting woul... More useful than charting would be a clear indication (maybe in View) of what files have never been backed up (I'm also trying to get to 150G or so and it's clearly going to get there eventually, but it's month-scale even when I'm running from my office. Also now that I've got over 100G successfully moved, adding a new machine takes 8 hours or more, "receiving transaction NNN from device 1" increments once every second to several seconds, for what I know will be about 20,000 transactions, and that's before it even tries to back anything up...
2009-05-06
- About:
PyCon 2009 Videos : Python
- When:
Wed May 6 18:20:36 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/8hjsm/pycon_2009_videos/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 237 milliseconds ago[-] Got it up to 93%, one of the files seems missing from blip.tv, so we've got close to full coverage even without any seeds... Got+it+up+to+93%25%2C+one+of+the+files+seems+missing+from+blip.tv%2C+so+we%27ve+got+close+to+full+coverage+even+without+any+seeds... * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-05-04
- About:
PyCon 2009 Videos : Python
- When:
Mon May 4 16:04:34 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/8hjsm/pycon_2009_videos/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 74 milliseconds ago[-] Oh hey, that worked (yay having the content hashes in the .torrent file...) I added two of them, now it's your turn (because the whole point of using the torrent is that I'm lazy and don't want to hammer on blip.tv myself) - stop your client, pick one of the zero-length entries at random, wget http://blip.tv/file/get/... the file (those names are the blip.tv download names...) and when that's done, restart the client, which should reverify and include your new content.) Oh+hey%2C+that+worked+%28yay+having+the+content+hashes+in+the+.torrent+file...%29%0A%0AI+added+two+of+them%2C+now+it%27s+your+turn+%28because+the+whole+point+of+using+the+torrent+is+that+I%27m+lazy+and+don%27t+want+to+hammer+on+blip.tv+myself%29+-+stop+your+client%2C+pick+one+of+the+zero-length+entries+at+random%2C+wget+http%3A%2F%2Fblip.tv%2Ffile%2Fget%2F...++the+file+%28those+names+are+the+blip.tv+download+names...%29+and+when+that%27s+done%2C+restart+the+client%2C+which+should+reverify+and+include+your+new+content.%29 * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
PyCon 2009 Videos : Python
- When:
Mon May 4 15:16:55 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/8hjsm/pycon_2009_videos/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 169 milliseconds ago[-] I only see 729M of content among the current peers. If these are the blip.tv flvs, I wonder if downloading them from there and stuffing them in would work... I+only+see+729M+of+content+among+the+current+peers.++If+these+are+the+blip.tv+flvs%2C+I+wonder+if+downloading+them+from+there+and+stuffing+them+in+would+work... * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-05-01
- About:
cjsmith: Swine flu
- When:
Fri May 1 01:05:24 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/905915.html?view=9341883#t9341883
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-05-01 05:04 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully I've seen a lot of it via "social media" - but that's mostly because I'm on twitter ("office water cooler gossip... 2.0") and recently started following (for semi-work-related reasons) twitter.com/BreakingNews, which has had pretty much every detection and death announcement (plus some fact-checking on Reuters' releases.) It's been quite the event as far as geographically interesting news goes... As for panic (or at least "possible overreaction") - Egypt apparently culled most/all of their pig population, followed by the UN saying "um, WTF?"... some countries and cruise lines have curtailed traffic to Mexico; some places have shut down schools... and the President got on the air to tell people to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough, earning him the title "kindergarten-teacher-in-chief" :-) (Reply to this)
- About:
cjsmith: Swine flu
- When:
Fri May 1 00:54:21 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/905915.html?view=9341371#t9341371
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-05-01 04:53 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This search for "Deep Vein Thrombosis"; if some of the articles are accurate, air-travel-related DVT kills dozens of people a year (which seems unlikely but I haven't dug in to any of the articles... just recalled the term from when they started adding the "take your shoes off and stretch" bits to in-flight video :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)
- About:
The Next Killer App is to Twitter as 1-2-3 was to Visicalc (Scripting News)
- When:
Sat Apr 25 23:29:29 2009
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2009/04/24/theNextKillerAppIsToTwitte.html
- What:
- _Mark_ 2 hours ago There's a blind-men-and-elephant problem here - you start by talking about an "exact" twitter clone, and then when people start asking about details, some of them turn out not to matter to you... part of my confusion, at least, is in this emphasis on looks - I rarely go to my own twitter page, I have API-based clients in three other contexts that I actually use twitter with, the web is just a fallback for not having a "real" client handy - and I even more rarely go to *other people's* pages other than for a first glance to see if they're interesting to follow (and whether or not they are, I still don't go *back*, I read in my client or maybe my page.) It's very much like actually using RSS, except without the pesky "full content feed" issue, since 140 chars is inherently full content :-) That leads to two-ish questions: * is my experience of twitter really that dramatically different from yours (and is either one common?) * a big reason people stick to twitter at all (given the clones) is network effect, and the ease of discovering new people from the people you already know - do you see any way that a "personal" twitter would still provide that? (I guess the real question there is "is that on your list or not" and if it is, do you see it as having an engineering solution, or do you see a way around it?)
2009-04-17
- About:
What's burning in Allston or Cambridge? | Universal Hub
- When:
Fri Apr 17 16:20:14 2009
- Where:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/24614#comment-81171
- What:
- closeups By _Mark_ (not verified) | Fri, 04/17/2009 - 3:21pm That's not a closeup, it isn't even from the same side of the river :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/3450170645/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/3450986928/ Also looks like the Boston Globe got some aerial shots... http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/_robert_ackerma.html * reply
2009-04-15
- About:
Android 1.5 will, among other things, support upload from phone to Youtube : programming
- When:
Tue Apr 14 21:43:56 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8ceok/android_15_will_among_other_things_support_upload/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 262 milliseconds ago[-] I used JetCet PDF on the G1 (during the free beta) - a little slow on zoom, and the UI is different from the standard Android UI in ways that make it look "wrong" - but it rendered some notably nasty pages (high-detail vector maps in particular) successfully. (I'll probably buy the real version next time I actually want to read a pdf on a tiny screen, but the G1 is too short on memory to casually leave large apps around (one of the few standard complaints you didn't include :-)
2009-04-07
- About:
Olympus SP-590UZ (and its 26x zoomer) gets reviewed
- When:
Tue Apr 7 00:26:52 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/olympus-sp-590uz-and-its-26x-zoomer-gets-reviewed/1#c18126455
- What:
- _Mark_ @ Apr 7th 2009 12:26AM I used the SP-550UZ and the SP-570UZ extensively, and switched to the Canon SX-10IS when it finally came out (mostly because the Canon has a saner UI, better autofocus, and is less fragile - Olympus has awesome service turnaround, the problem is that you end up *needing* it.) The stabilization is *great* for long range shots (I do a lot of nature photography, birds in trees or in flight.) Find my flickr gallery for examples. It's almost a reasonable binocular replacement - almost, because I'd see a lot more with binocs in-person, where as I often find myself discovering extra details when looking at my pictures on a real screen later (facial expressions, feather patterns, *entire animals* that I didn't notice because they weren't the prime subject...) Agree with @Michael that full *digital* zoom is artifact soup on any of them - the main reason to use digital zoom at all on these is to make sure autofocus has tracked correctly (though I also use it for framing and composition, since I basically never edit.) (Having used both - 26x is certainly tempting, but at this point I'll happily wait for *Canon* to advance in that direction.)
2009-04-06
- About:
Daily Life in an Ivory Basement : /apr-09/pursuing-simplicity.html
- When:
Mon Apr 6 02:03:29 2009
- Where:
http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/apr-09/pursuing-simplicity.html
- What:
- Posted by Mark at Sun Apr 5 20:34:42 2009: I went to the windmill openspaces session, at least partly to make sure I got over the initial install hurdles - after a couple of failures with easy_install, someone suggested virtualenv + PIP, and it "just worked". That said, I always look for a debian package first :-) (that path also gets you nose, and twill, but not selenium or windmill...)
2009-04-04
- About:
Dremel Driver Cordless Screwdriver — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Sat Apr 4 01:35:19 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/03/30/dremel-driver-cordless-screwdriver/comment-page-1/#comment-32928
- What:
- Dremel Driver Cordless Screwdriver by Julie on March 30, 2009 · 2 comments in Spotlight Gadgets dremel-driver The Dremel Driver is Dremel’s new variable-speed 7.2V compact cordless screwdriver. It looks like a handy tool to have around for smaller projects and crafts. If you don't want to miss new postings, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed. { 2 comments… read them below or add one } 1 ferris209 03.31.09 at 2:40 am Own it, love it! 2 _Mark_ 04.03.09 at 11:35 pm I got it from Home Depot (in the pair kit, screwdriver *and* cordless dremel drill, that share the same “holster” charger) a while ago. Having a dremel without a cord is *great*, I used mine with side-cutting bits for some sheetrock repair, it lasted a while and I not dealing with the cord was a win… I don’t use the driver that often but it is nice that it holds a charge for a long time, unlike older designs which were either drawing power all the time or were flat when I wanted to use them…
- About:
AlphaGrip iGrip Ergonomic Keyboard & Trackball — The Gadgeteer
- When:
Sat Apr 4 00:28:38 2009
- Where:
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/04/03/alphagrip-igrip-ergonomic-keyboard-trackball/
- What:
- _Mark_ 04.03.09 at 3:27 pm I got one of those last year some time… It was one of the things that convinced me that I just wasn’t interested in anything that wasn’t actual qwerty - I’ve just been typing too long :-) It seemed reasonable comfortable and solidly built but you’d really need to commit to learning it, and carrying it around as your primary keyboard (fortunately USB “won” so this is practical.) Also, I’m an emacs user, and while it was *possible* with this, it wasn’t at all intuitive and I didn’t really put the time in to make heavy modifier-key use go smoothly. If you’ve got a serious reviewer in the Boston area I might be convinced to loan out mine…
2009-04-02
- About:
elephantangelchild: Stage fright
- When:
Thu Apr 2 16:18:39 2009
- Where:
http://elephantangelchild.blogspot.com/2009/04/stage-fright.html?showComment=1238697600000#c5719820474380623551
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Yeah, at a quick glance, you probably haven't run into the quoting issue (milestones and status values are unlikely to have ' in them) but someone using the the interface without reading all the code might get caught by it, especially if they feed it untrustable user input. I personally find that properly bound statements are more readable than language-level string mucking anyway - for example, getMilestoneOverview could say cur.execute("select id from ticket where milestone = ? and status = ?", [milestone, status[0]]) (not tested, just extrapolated from some of my own sqlite code.) April 2, 2009 11:40 AM
- About:
Ned Batchelder: Pycon 2009 notes
- When:
Wed Apr 1 23:56:11 2009
- Where:
http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200903/pycon_2009_notes.html
- What:
- _Mark_ 10:53 AM on 1 Apr 2009 Twitter was a good way to keep up with news from the sprints on the way home - I read about GvR's final decision (to go with hg) while waiting for my flight at ORD on Monday morning :-)
2009-03-23
- About:
Daily Life in an Ivory Basement : /mar-09/on-kwargs.html
- When:
Mon Mar 23 16:40:31 2009
- Where:
http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/mar-09/on-kwargs.html
- What:
- Posted by Mark at Mon Mar 23 12:44:55 2009: Since calling it "kwargs", though idiomatic, is redundant with the "**" itself, perhaps saying "**extra_args_from_derived_classes" (or something more elegant) that self-documents why you're asking for them?
2009-03-15
- About:
What programming projects am I working on? - Steve Hanov's Technology Blog
- When:
Sun Mar 15 02:00:17 2009
- Where:
http://gandolf.homelinux.org/blog/index.php
- What:
- _Mark_ 2009-03-15 02:00:13 Hiveminder? (task.hm, or hiveminder.com) it has 1, 2 is I think close enough to what you describe, 3... well, there are priorities, and 4 - there are tags and groups, plenty of dimension there...
2009-03-13
- About:
cjsmith: Facebook
- When:
Fri Mar 13 00:49:04 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/897557.html?view=9212693#t9212693
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-03-13 04:48 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Out of curiousity, what inspired this? (I'm taking the Audrey Hepburn/"Regina Lampert"[1] approach, although I am on linkedin - that's about existing professional connections, though.) I ask because it's entirely your fault that I'm on livejournal :-) [1] Charade, 1963 - "I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn't possibly meet anyone else."
2009-03-03
- About:
Tweet-a-watt crowned winner of Greener Gadgets 2009 design competition
- When:
Tue Mar 3 04:28:29 2009
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/02/tweet-a-watt-crowned-winner-of-greener-gadgets-2009-design-compe/1#c17431896
- What:
- _Mark_ @ Mar 3rd 2009 4:28AM Hah, for years there's been promise (never delivered) of a kill-a-watt with serial output - nice to see someone get the data out with just a handful of SparkFun parts and some code :-) And it looks like you still have use of the display and averaging features of the original units. (Using this on A/C and heaters, and graphing the data alongside a temperature logger would be Interesting... hook the receiver to a SheevaPlug and you'd have a *very* low-profile whole-house EKG...)
2009-02-23
- About:
Asktav » A Challenge To Break Python Security
- When:
Mon Feb 23 18:12:24 2009
- Where:
http://tav.espians.com/a-challenge-to-break-python-security.html?disqus_reply=6533606#comment-6533606
- What:
- _Mark_ 0 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment. Oh, looking at http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/200... seems I was trying to hard; simply definining an __eq__ that returns True (and having the value always be "w") is enough. Still only lets you create the file, looks like that still doesn't get a way to put contents in it... reply edit
- About:
Asktav » A Challenge To Break Python Security
- When:
Mon Feb 23 17:54:54 2009
- Where:
http://tav.espians.com/a-challenge-to-break-python-security.html?disqus_reply=6533287#comment-6533287
- What:
- Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator. Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment. * o ^ o v o Permalink o Admin o + + + Report Spam + Remove Post + Block email + Block IP address _Mark_ 0 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment. This *doesn't* break it but I don't quiet understand why - basically subvert mode with a subclass of str that returns alternating values; the first one definitely gets past the comparison, but it doesn't end up re-evaluating... does LOAD_FAST cache values or something? Or am I missing something (since Guido just tweeted that it worked with __eq__?) from safelite import FileReader class LoopStr(str): def __init__(self, val): self._vals = val.split(",") def __str__(self): ret = self._vals.pop(0) self._vals.append(ret) return ret def __repr__(self): ret = self._vals.pop(0) self._vals.append(ret) return ret def __eq__(self, other): return str.__eq__(self.__str__(), other) def __ne__(self, other): return str.__ne__(self.__str__(), other) foo = FileReader("/tmp/gotcha", mode = LoopStr("r,w")) reply edit
2009-02-22
- About:
455man comments on How to undelete any open, deleted file in linux.
- When:
Sun Feb 22 16:49:57 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7yx6f/how_to_undelete_any_open_deleted_file_in_linux/c07st42?context=3
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 113 milliseconds ago[-] Throw in an int status; and status = linkat(odir, ofile, ndir, nfile, AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW); if (status) { perror("linkat failed"); } And: $ lsof -p 30878 | tail -1 tail 30878 eichin 3r REG 8,5 10 178919 /tmp/testfile1 (deleted) $ linkat /proc/30878/fd/3 /tmp/net_file2 linkat failed: No such file or directory and /tmp/net_file2 is in fact not created. As I mentioned, I'm on intrepid with a 2.6.27 kernel -- what are you running? Throw+in+an%0A++++int+status%3B%0Aand%0A%0A++++status+%3D+linkat%28odir%2C+ofile%2C+ndir%2C+nfile%2C+AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW%29%3B%0A++++if+%28status%29+%7B%0A++++++perror%28%22linkat+failed%22%29%3B%0A++++%7D%0A%0AAnd%3A%0A++++%24+lsof+-p+30878+%7C+tail+-1%0A++++tail++++30878+eichin++++3r+++REG++++8%2C5++++++10++178919+%2Ftmp%2Ftestfile1+%28deleted%29%0A++++%24+linkat+%2Fproc%2F30878%2Ffd%2F3+%2Ftmp%2Fnet_file2%0A++++linkat+failed%3A+No+such+file+or+directory%0Aand+%60%2Ftmp%2Fnet_file2%60+is+in+fact+not+created.++As+I+mentioned%2C+I%27m+on+intrepid+with+a+2.6.27+kernel+--+what+are+%2Ayou%2A+running%3F * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Why does gets() exist? : programming
- When:
Sun Feb 22 16:43:07 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7zdg2/why_does_gets_exist/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 306 milliseconds ago[-] And it wasn't until the Morris Worm (1988) that a lot of programmers found out the hard way that it didn't stop at BUFSIZ either... And+it+wasn%27t+until+the+Morris+Worm+%281988%29+that+a+lot+of+programmers+found+out+the+hard+way+that+it+didn%27t+stop+at+BUFSIZ+either... * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
Ponderings -
- When:
Sun Feb 22 14:51:09 2009
- Where:
http://hartmans.livejournal.com/69224.html?view=140392#t140392
- What:
- NancyTyping I used that as an interview question one time - with someone who turned out to have worked at the place that found it :-) What's distressing is that it got fixed... and then *reverted* due to being consistent with the underlying libc (which is, I think, wrong but in a way that subtle to articulate...) Posted on Feb. 22nd, 2009 07:50 pm (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply | Delete | Track This
2009-02-20
- About:
How to undelete any open, deleted file in linux. : programming
- When:
Fri Feb 20 18:06:56 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7yx6f/how_to_undelete_any_open_deleted_file_in_linux/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 226 milliseconds ago[-] Really? I tried it (ubuntu intrepid, so 2.6.27) and just get ENOENT if the fd is on a deleted file. (Works perfectly if the file isn't yet deleted, but so does ln $(readlink /proc/$pid/fd/3) /tmp/newfile...) Really%3F+I+tried+it+%28ubuntu+intrepid%2C+so+2.6.27%29+and+just+get+%60ENOENT%60+if+the+fd+is+on+a+deleted+file.++%28Works+perfectly+if+the+file+isn%27t+yet+deleted%2C+but+so+does+%60ln+%24%28readlink+%2Fproc%2F%24pid%2Ffd%2F3%29+%2Ftmp%2Fnewfile%60...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-02-19
- About:
WhiteyFlipsSomeBits: Paid App Comming
- When:
Thu Feb 19 18:45:00 2009
- Where:
http://whiteyflipssomebits.blogspot.com/2009/02/paid-app-comming.html?showComment=1235087040000#c5317176231439159901
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Are you going to have a roadmap/suggest features/vote for features list? (I'm holding off on further scanning until I can do some simple tagging, like "office" vs. "living room" vs. "basement" - really all that needs is a user-defined string and a multi-select, plus a sticky default so I can scan a bunch of stuff and have it all get the same value/values...) it's pretty generic, my two use cases are "where did I leave that" and "does my mom already have that or should I get her a copy" but *everybody* "gets" tagging these days :-) February 19, 2009 3:44 PM
- About:
PicPush • View topic - Expectation Failed
- When:
Wed Feb 18 19:45:30 2009
- Where:
http://forum.picpush.mobi/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11&p=43&sid=6f2c6ac76a6135a685189eade159628e#p43
- What:
- * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Expectation Failed Postby eichin on Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:45 am I happened to run in to Expectation Failed with flickr uploads with my desktop flickr client - turns out I was getting Code: Select all HTTP/1.0 417 Expectation failed from the SQUID cache on the wireless network I was using. Turns out that pycurl (http library) sends Code: Select all Expect: 100-continue by default, and Squid can't handle that, so it (correctly) sends the 417; the *right* thing for my client to do was to retry the request *without* the Expect: 100-continue, now that I've been told it won't work. (The *easy* thing for my client to do was to drop the Expect header entirely, since I basically never see early cancellations (and if I do I don't mind having wasted a little bandwidth with the rest of the post.) You might want to be more correct, depending on what you're using for an HTTP library... eichin
2009-02-16
- About:
PicPush • View topic - two copies from store?
- When:
Mon Feb 16 16:56:20 2009
- Where:
http://forum.picpush.mobi/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20&sid=50b828f8ea6e92dbf4bc49554c2ad50a
- What:
- * Report this post * Reply with quote two copies from store? Postby eichin on Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:56 pm I had (and still have) PicPush 1.0.9 installed, noticed the new release announcements, and went to the store... hit install on the new one... now I have *both* 1.01.12 and 1.0.9 installed, and only 1.0.9 knows about my flickr account. Any idea what's up with that? (I assume I can delete the old one and reconfigure the new one - not a big deal, but I thought the Android Market was supposed to avoid this sort of thing happening...)
- About:
PicPush • View topic - Where do we go from here?
- When:
Mon Feb 16 16:46:41 2009
- Where:
http://forum.picpush.mobi/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3&p=36&sid=50b828f8ea6e92dbf4bc49554c2ad50a#p36
- What:
- * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Where do we go from here? Postby eichin on Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:46 pm Since I only use it for flickr: * keywords would be nice * default the title to the on-phone image filename * allow at least explicitly-posted pictures to default to public instead of private like they do now
2009-02-13
- About:
p100-6150056 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- When:
Fri Feb 13 14:24:44 2009
- Where:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/2582547091/?addedcomment=1#comment72157613750451291
- What:
- view profile Mark Eichin Pro User says: Heh, this is the first time my callsign-stalking has actually turned up the pilot :-) But you've got more of a net presence than most pilots, so I guess that's not too surprising. Posted 1 second ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )
2009-02-08
- About:
Amazon.com: Mark Eichin's review of Ultra-Quiet and Light 15-Inch Electric Sno...
- When:
Sat Feb 7 23:14:44 2009
- Where:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FKTKRKTNFC96/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
- What:
- 5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet, effective, not a monster, February 7, 2009 By Mark Eichin After an errant doormat destroyed the gearbox (a $200 part!) on my gas-powered 2-stage snowblower, in January with more snow on the way, I looked on amazon to see what electric blowers would arrive in a hurry. After seeing the negative reviews of the larger Toro (in particular the ones talking about low build quality and early belt failure), I took a chance on this less-known model. The main thing to understand about this snow thrower is that it is a *different tool* than your typical monster gas-powered snowblower. 15" is smaller than most lawnmowers - in use, it's actually more like a large upright vacuum cleaner, just not as loud. It's light enough that pushing and pulling it back and forth is no big deal - unlike some of the smaller "power shovels" you're not supporting it at all, you're rolling it. It is a little noisy when it hits heavy slush, but on actual snow, I could hear some of the louder songbirds nearby, even while actually throwing snow. The output is fine, so if the wind shifts on you you're likely to get covered in powder (unlike a 2-stage machine where the output is typically dense and wet.) It's small enough that if you notice the change and pull back, output stops very quickly. If you push it into something too heavy for it to handle, it'll just stall; I found that pulling it back, and maybe bouncing it a little, cleared most of those (though I learned fairly rapidly to recognize the limits - and often, hitting dense berms slowly or edge-on worked when a full-speed frontal assault didn't.) Obviously it takes longer than a wider snowblower; it's relatively tedious to use on a large area - but it isn't *tiring* to use; even though it took longer, I found myself far less tired than I was when running the big gas blower. It's certainly faster than shoveling, and doesn't involve any lifting at all; since you don't need hearing protection for it, you can listen to your mp3 player while operating it - after all, it's not a large dangerous machine! I've used mine after two snowstorms now, to clear two hundred-foot sections of driveway (I live on a corner - one path to the front door and one to the garage.) Aiming the output forward and using a herringbone pattern works great when there's no wind; when there's a steady breeze, it's also pretty easy to do a bit of straight path and then blow sideways paths off of it, with the wind at your back. I was concerned that having it clear 4" of snow and then fail to get through the corresponding 12" snowplow slush/ice berm would make it sort of useless - in practice, it turns out that if you take it slow it can handle more heavy stuff, and if you take a regular shovel and break up the berm (still no lifting! just carve off chunks) it'll eat the broken off remnants just fine. All-in-all I'm much happier with this than with the big gas blower, it's handled January in New England quite nicely.
2009-02-05
- About:
cjsmith: Stereo astro
- When:
Thu Feb 5 00:01:00 2009
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/889003.html?view=9132715#t9132715
- What:
- [info]eichin 2009-02-05 04:59 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully I learned off of some NASA publication when I was in grade school (one of the moon landers had a stereo camera.) These are visually stunning - but note that they're "art made from astronomy", rather than long-baseline stereo images. (Not intended as a criticism, merely a categorization...) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2009-02-03
- About:
Parsing C++ : programming
- When:
Tue Feb 3 11:19:59 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7uhw7/parsing_c/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 2 seconds ago[-] Ah, that's from 2001... that's why he doesn't mention GCC-XML which is designed pretty much exactly for this use case - leverage the "real" GCC C++ parser, and spit out XML to play with using "modern" tools. That said, the Roskind grammar isn't hard to work with, I added exceptions to it as a junior developer at HP/Apollo back in 1992 or so (as part of a C++-with-exceptions to C++-with-setjmp/longjmp translator, eww :-) Ah%2C+that%27s+from+2001...+that%27s+why+he+doesn%27t+mention+%5BGCC-XML%5D%28http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gccxml.org%2FHTML%2FIndex.html%29+which+is+designed+pretty+much+exactly+for+this+use+case+-+leverage+the+%22real%22+GCC+C%2B%2B+parser%2C+and+spit+out+XML+to+play+with+using+%22modern%22+tools.%0A%0AThat+said%2C+the+Roskind+grammar+isn%27t+hard+to+work+with%2C+I+added+exceptions+to+it+as+a+junior+developer+at+HP%2FApollo+back+in+1992+or+so+%28as+part+of+a+C%2B%2B-with-exceptions+to+C%2B%2B-with-setjmp%2Flongjmp+translator%2C+eww+%3A-%29+ * permalink * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-01-29
- About:
Blogger: Entity Crisis - Post a Comment
- When:
Wed Jan 28 20:07:38 2009
- Where:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8935780327334775165&postID=885571936897620190
- What:
- Blogger _Mark_ said... Nice. Do you do any simulator-based (or mock object, even) pre-testing, or are you always working on the "live" hardware? (I'd also ask if you were looking for more python developers, but wrong country :-) ps. I like the use of single-color filtering to make the device stand out... Thursday, January 29, 2009
2009-01-28
- About:
[Dive Into Python 3] Please critique this code that I'm considering using for chapters 2-4 : Python
- When:
Wed Jan 28 01:11:07 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/7syw8/dive_into_python_3_please_critique_this_code_that/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 28 minutes ago* [-] As far as the code itself (rather than its teaching value) it discards excess argument without either processing them or complaining about their presence; also, no file-wide docstring (adding usage=__doc__ to the OptionParser constructor call would add named args and "magic" variables to the list too - again, perhaps too much for this stage, but I'd do it if it were "real" code...) edited to add backticks for code-quoting As+far+as+the+code+itself+%28rather+than+its+teaching+value%29+it+discards+excess+argument+without+either+processing+them+or+complaining+about+their+presence%3B+also%2C+no+file-wide+docstring+%28adding+%60usage%3D__doc__%60+to+the+%60OptionParser%60+constructor+call+would+add+named+args+and+%22magic%22+variables+to+the+list+too+-+again%2C+perhaps+too+much+for+this+stage%2C+but+I%27d+do+it+if+it+were+%22real%22+code...%29%0A%2Aedited+to+add+backticks+for+code-quoting%2A * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
- About:
[Dive Into Python 3] Please critique this code that I'm considering using for chapters 2-4 : Python
- When:
Wed Jan 28 00:42:15 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/7syw8/dive_into_python_3_please_critique_this_code_that/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 793 milliseconds ago[-] As far as the code itself (rather than its teaching value) it discards excess argument without either processing them or complaining about their presence; also, no file-wide docstring (adding usage=doc to the OptionParser constructor call would add named args and "magic" variables to the list too - again, perhaps too much for this stage, but I'd do it if it were "real" code...) As+far+as+the+code+itself+%28rather+than+its+teaching+value%29+it+discards+excess+argument+without+either+processing+them+or+complaining+about+their+presence%3B+also%2C+no+file-wide+docstring+%28adding+usage%3D__doc__+to+the+OptionParser+constructor+call+would+add+named+args+and+%22magic%22+variables+to+the+list+too+-+again%2C+perhaps+too+much+for+this+stage%2C+but+I%27d+do+it+if+it+were+%22real%22+code...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * deleteare you sure? yes / no * reply
2009-01-26
- About:
Motivating Minds (The Economist on why TDD makes you work harder) : programming
- When:
Sun Jan 25 21:45:10 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7s9ul/motivating_minds_the_economist_on_why_tdd_makes/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 207 milliseconds ago[-] Think of edge cases and exceptional conditions, then think of how to test for them A complementary benefit of doing even casual TDD is that it can help you discover that there are cases you don't have to handle; I've had a few overwhelming-looking projects "collapse" when I started writing tests (which also serve as worked examples) and discovered that actual problem was much simpler than I'd imagined it. The tests really are a different perspective on the problem... %3E+Think+of+edge+cases+and+exceptional+conditions%2C+then+think+of+how+to+test+for+them%0A%0AA+complementary+benefit+of+doing+even+casual+TDD+is+that+it+can+help+you+discover+that+there+are+cases+you+%2Adon%27t%2A+have+to+handle%3B+I%27ve+had+a+few+overwhelming-looking+projects+%22collapse%22+when+I+started+writing+tests+%28which+also+serve+as+worked+examples%29+and+discovered+that+actual+problem+was+much+simpler+than+I%27d+imagined+it.+The+tests+really+are+a+different+perspective+on+the+problem... * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2009-01-25
- About:
One of the coolest Unix tools I've discovered in some time: Expect : programming
- When:
Sun Jan 25 17:39:49 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7sc8n/one_of_the_coolest_unix_tools_ive_discovered_in/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 379 milliseconds ago[-] Start doing more testing :-) (Not "this code does what I wrote" unit testing, but higher level "this application does something useful"...) (Though as suggested above, pexpect is nicer for that...) Start+doing+more+testing+%3A-%29++%28Not+%22this+code+does+what+I+wrote%22+unit+testing%2C+but+higher+level+%22this+application+does+something+useful%22...%29+%28Though+as+suggested+above%2C+pexpect+is+nicer+for+that...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2009-01-19
- About:
Python Coder Test « Where there is a Will
- When:
Mon Jan 19 14:48:38 2009
- Where:
http://www.willmcgugan.com/2009/01/17/python-coder-test/comment-page-1/#comment-91202
- What:
- _Mark_ says: January 19, 2009 at 8:48 pm Just for completeness: ido, thank you for reposting that regexp - it is simple, and matches the most-naive interpretation of the request; it’s just that *any* simple regexp will get the wrong answer in the face of html comments or cdata sections (which I won’t try to enter here, since there’s no preview to see if it eats them.) regexps have their place - my point is just that it isn’t as broad a place as people seem to think :-)
2009-01-18
- About:
WhiteyFlipsSomeBits: My Collection - 1.3.* Progress
- When:
Sun Jan 18 16:01:08 2009
- Where:
http://whiteyflipssomebits.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-collection-13-progress.html?showComment=1232312400000#c2461615194579000689
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Ooh, and I was just hunting down this blog to ask for user categories. (and for a way to personally turn off "games" and "blu-ray" tabs, since they're empty...) Additional thoughts: * barcode scanner should be able to automatically select the "book" category if the barcode is in 978 - that's the "bookland" ean country code after all. * ISBN as a book lookup type? (so when the upc turns out to be old-style, and fails, I don't have to hand-checksum a 978 code out of it...) * This may not fit what you're trying to build, but: how about a way to specify *where* a book is? (living room, bedroom, at work...) Slightly different semantics than "loan", maybe. (Yes, I worked on some homebrew library/loan code ages ago; didn't get very far on the UI side, though...) January 18, 2009 1:00 PM
- About:
Python Coder Test « Where there is a Will
- When:
Sun Jan 18 15:09:01 2009
- Where:
http://www.willmcgugan.com/2009/01/17/python-coder-test/comment-page-1/#comment-90938
- What:
- _Mark_ says: January 18, 2009 at 9:08 pm I’ll also note that for all that a regexp solution is supposed to be “simpler”, we’ve seen only one (that apparently misunderstood the question) and from the comments, none of the suggestions that a regexp would be simpler considered things like html comments, cdata, or whether nbsp is whitespace… I’ve found it quite common that when you’ve got a simple regexp for something - you’ve missed some part of the problem :-) (Also, like lambdas, regexps don’t have docstrings…)
2009-01-17
- About:
Python Coder Test « Where there is a Will
- When:
Sat Jan 17 18:55:50 2009
- Where:
http://www.willmcgugan.com/2009/01/17/python-coder-test/comment-page-1/#comment-90728
- What:
- # # _Mark_ says: January 18, 2009 at 12:55 am For #2, I’d expect a regexp from a general developer, or one with perl experience - but I’d push harder on someone claiming python experience :-) I’ve moved a number of perl programmers over to python and one sign of being “early” in the transition is using regexps for things with more robust and readable functions available - str.endswith, os.path.basename, and for this particular example, BeautifulSoup: from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup soup = BeautifulSoup(”…”) for paratag in soup.findAll(name=”p”): if not paratag.string or not paratag.string.strip(): paratag.extract() #end if #end for print soup
2009-01-12
- About:
Writing Blazing Fast, Infinitely Scalable, Pure-WSGI Utilities - Die in a Fire - Eric Florenzano’s Blog
- When:
Mon Jan 12 18:04:03 2009
- Where:
http://www.eflorenzano.com/blog/post/writing-blazing-fast-infinitely-scalable-pure-wsgi/
- What:
- _Mark_ at 5:03 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2009 While it's interesting to see where the bottlenecks are with this approach - why use that much of a stack at all, instead of xmlrpclib (also an included battery) or even strings over sockets? Reply To This Comment
2009-01-05
- About:
The Year 2038 Problem : programming
- When:
Mon Jan 5 17:02:58 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7nki6/the_year_2038_problem/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 228 milliseconds ago[-] Didn't the BSDs switch to 64 bit time_t years ago (even on 32-bit systems?) Solaris likewise? Didn%27t+the+BSDs+switch+to+64+bit+time_t+years+ago+%28even+on+32-bit+systems%3F%29++Solaris+likewise%3F * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2009-01-04
- About:
Entity Crisis: The Embedded GUI, continued...
- When:
Sun Jan 4 18:23:56 2009
- Where:
http://entitycrisis.blogspot.com/2009/01/embedded-gui-continued.html
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Sometimes the overhead of learning the higher level system doesn't seem to justify the cost (especially when you're not trying to share code with people specifically familiar with it); I've gotten a lot more work done with raw WSGI than with django, turbogears, or pylons :-) Monday, January 05, 2009
- About:
Blogger: Entity Crisis - Post a Comment
- When:
Sun Jan 4 18:23:39 2009
- Where:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8935780327334775165&postID=9031412417078772364&page=1
- What:
- Blogger _Mark_ said... Sometimes the overhead of learning the higher level system doesn't seem to justify the cost (especially when you're not trying to share code with people specifically familiar with it); I've gotten a lot more work done with raw WSGI than with django, turbogears, or pylons :-) Monday, January 05, 2009
- About:
Ask Reddit: What do you use to orchestrate building a large C/C++ project? If the answer is autotools, what's a good tutorial? : programming
- When:
Sat Jan 3 19:27:32 2009
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7n24k/ask_reddit_what_do_you_use_to_orchestrate/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 229 milliseconds ago[-] If you use make, take a look at the Recursive Make Consider Harmful approach, where you store information locally around the tree but build globally. (Of course, my current large project goes in an entirely different direction - all modules are debian packages, and there's a higher level Jam-based package-set builder... but you probably don't want that :-) If+you+use+make%2C+take+a+look+at+the+%5BRecursive+Make+Consider+Harmful%5D%28http%3A%2F%2Fmiller.emu.id.au%2Fpmiller%2Fbooks%2Frmch%2F%29+approach%2C+where+you+store+information+locally+around+the+tree+but+build+globally.++%28Of+course%2C+my+current+large+project+goes+in+an+entirely+different+direction+-+all+modules+are+debian+packages%2C+and+there%27s+a+higher+level+Jam-based+package-set+builder...+but+you+probably+don%27t+want+that+%3A-%29 * permalink * edit * delete * reply
2009-01-01
- About:
The cause of the Zune leap year bug has been isolated to a Freescale date routine. : programming
- When:
Wed Dec 31 22:42:09 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7mq6k/the_cause_of_the_zune_leap_year_bug_has_been/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 100 milliseconds ago[-] That's "Ariane" and it wasn't a comma, it was out of range data in an untested code path from reusing control software from the earlier model that didn't move as fast... rather more subtle, actually... Wikipedia article on Ariane 5 That%27s+%22Ariane%22+and+it+wasn%27t+a+comma%2C+it+was+out+of+range+data+in+an+untested+code+path+from+reusing+control+software+from+the+earlier+model+that+didn%27t+move+as+fast...+rather+more+subtle%2C+actually...%0A%0A%5BWikipedia+article+on+Ariane+5%5D%28http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAriane_5_Flight_501%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-12-28
- About:
Python on Android : programming
- When:
Sun Dec 28 01:34:16 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7ltz7/python_on_android/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 338 milliseconds ago[-] Note that the G1 isn't a device with 8G storage - application storage, sadly, isn't on the microSD card at all - partly because the card is unmounted when it is hooked up to USB (so it can be exported as USB storage - any background app threads would have to be killed off at that point, which is a hassle, though not an insurmountable one), probably partly because it would be easy to exploit if it were :-) (As for speed - when your app spends most of its time waiting for network responses, you don't really care how fast the interpreter itself is. I have a bunch of apps in mind for which python/jython would be perfectly suitable and end-users wouldn't notice any speed improvement if they were ported to java/dalvik - but based on the apps I have written, java is way too tedious and verbose to bother writing them in...) Note+that+the+G1+%2Aisn%27t%2A+a+device+with+8G+storage+-+application+storage%2C+sadly%2C+isn%27t+on+the+microSD+card+at+all+-+partly+because+the+card+is+unmounted+when+it+is+hooked+up+to+USB+%28so+it+can+be+exported+as+USB+storage+-+any+background+app+threads+would+have+to+be+killed+off+at+that+point%2C+which+is+a+hassle%2C+though+not+an+insurmountable+one%29%2C+probably+partly+because+it+would+be+easy+to+exploit+if+it+were+%3A-%29%0A%0A%28As+for+speed+-+when+your+app+spends+most+of+its+time+waiting+for+network+responses%2C+you+don%27t+really+%2Acare%2A+how+fast+the+interpreter+itself+is.++I+have+a+bunch+of+apps+in+mind+for+which+python%2Fjython+would+be+perfectly+suitable+and+end-users+wouldn%27t+notice+any+speed+improvement+if+they+were+ported+to+java%2Fdalvik+-+but+based+on+the+apps+I+have+written%2C+java+is+way+too+tedious+and+verbose+to+bother+writing+them+in...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
- About:
Python on Android : programming
- When:
Sun Dec 28 01:25:27 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7ltz7/python_on_android/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 248 milliseconds ago[-] No one python port could work on "any ARM device" - the ARM part is trivial (as long as it's a gcc-supported ARM), it's the OS hooks that are a challenge. After all, Python was already ported ( years ago ) to ARM/WinCE, but very little of that helps at all here... No+one+python+port+could+work+on+%22any+ARM+device%22+-+the+ARM+part+is+trivial+%28as+long+as+it%27s+a+gcc-supported+ARM%29%2C+it%27s+the+OS+hooks+that+are+a+challenge.++After+all%2C+Python+was+already+ported+%28+%2Ayears%2A+ago+%29+to+ARM%2FWinCE%2C+but+very+little+of+that+helps+at+all+here... * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
- About:
Python on Android : programming
- When:
Sun Dec 28 01:21:53 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7ltz7/python_on_android/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 688 milliseconds ago[-] See http://code.google.com/p/jythonroid/ which actually runs (sort of, very much still under development) for a jython port as a real android app - which, unlike the posted article, actually runs on a G1 - last time I tried it crashed pretty quickly, but the pieces are there, feel free to help out... See+http%3A%2F%2Fcode.google.com%2Fp%2Fjythonroid%2F+which+actually+runs+%28sort+of%2C+very+much+still+under+development%29+for+a+jython+port+as+a+real+android+app+-+which%2C+unlike+the+posted+article%2C+actually+runs+on+a+G1+-+last+time+I+tried+it+crashed+pretty+quickly%2C+but+the+pieces+are+there%2C+feel+free+to+help+out... * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-12-22
- About:
Send secret messages with DNS : programming
- When:
Sun Dec 21 19:43:10 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7kycn/send_secret_messages_with_dns/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 175 milliseconds ago[-] The use of a wildcard domain for this looks novel. The use of cached/not-cached in DNS as a covert channel was published back in 1987 or 1988 (in the context of Multics at MIT, so probably by Saltzer, though I haven't found an online reference.) At the time, covert channel analysis was a big thing... The+use+of+a+wildcard+domain+for+this+looks+novel.++The+use+of+cached%2Fnot-cached+in+DNS+as+a+covert+channel+was+published+back+in+1987+or+1988+%28in+the+context+of+Multics+at+MIT%2C+so+probably+by+Saltzer%2C+though+I+haven%27t+found+an+online+reference.%29++At+the+time%2C+covert+channel+analysis+was+a+big+thing... * permalink * edit * delete * reply
2008-12-13
- About:
TortoiseGit 0.1.0.0 (preview) is out : programming
- When:
Sat Dec 13 18:39:19 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7jazz/tortoisegit_0100_preview_is_out/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 1 second ago[-] Yeah, svn copy-tags don't fit that. Properties (or revprops) might work... but there isn't a gui that does the rest. (Frankly, cvs works for you, use it :-) I still use it for some web deployment stuff http://webrcs.sf.net where it makes more sense than svn...) Yeah%2C+svn+copy-tags+don%27t+fit+that.++Properties+%28or+revprops%29+might+work...+but+there+isn%27t+a+gui+that+does+the+rest.++%28Frankly%2C+cvs+works+for+you%2C+use+it+%3A-%29+I+still+use+it+for+some+web+deployment+stuff+http%3A%2F%2Fwebrcs.sf.net+where+it+makes+more+sense+than+svn...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-12-11
- About:
The Mother of All Demos: 150 Years Ahead of Its Time : programming
- When:
Thu Dec 11 16:42:17 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7iuuq/the_mother_of_all_demos_150_years_ahead_of_its/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 752 milliseconds ago[-] "I have no particular conviction that the hand-controlled mouse will be the best screen-select control means that will emerge; and I applaud any pursuit of better means." (Doug Englebert quote from elsewhere.) Another area where we're still kind of stuck... %22I+have+no+particular+conviction+that+the+hand-controlled+mouse+will+be+the+best+screen-select+control+means+that+will+emerge%3B+and+I+applaud+any+pursuit+of+better+means.%22+%28Doug+Englebert+quote+from+elsewhere.%29+Another+area+where+we%27re+still+kind+of+stuck... * permalink * edit * delete * reply
- About:
cjsmith: Waiting
- When:
Thu Dec 11 14:25:20 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/876834.html?view=9028386#t9028386
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-12-11 07:25 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Hah, small world - codesourcery wrote QMTest, which is what led to me (and my company) switching whole-heartedly over to python :-) (thanks!) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-12-09
- About:
Ask Proggit: Bug Blame : programming
- When:
Mon Dec 8 22:59:55 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7i8ak/ask_proggit_bug_blame/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 223 milliseconds ago[-] Consider that the cost of you finding it is much less than the cost of you not finding it... Consider that there are many legendary stories of significantly worse bugs by significantly more senior programmers (one of my favorites ends with "it's just as well that it deleted its own source code too" and another involves having to fix a linker bug so the Shuttle could launch...) If anything, read up on automated testing and propose putting time into helping prevent this kind of problem in the future (not in terms of "fighting the last war" but in terms of having tests based on the business goals, not the design and internals...) It can be quite interesting work (especially if you're looking for a broader understanding of the product, which you'll need for any higher level work on it, assuming that is your ambition...) Consider+that+the+cost+of+you+finding+it+is+much+less+than+the+cost+of+you+%2Anot%2A+finding+it...%0A%0AConsider+that+there+are+many+legendary+stories+of+significantly+worse+bugs+by+significantly+more+senior+programmers+%28one+of+my+favorites+ends+with+%22it%27s+just+as+well+that+it+deleted+its+own+source+code+too%22+and+another+involves+having+to+fix+a+linker+bug+so+the+Shuttle+could+launch...%29%0A%0AIf+anything%2C+read+up+on+automated+testing+and+propose+putting+time+into+helping+prevent+this+kind+of+problem+in+the+future+%28not+in+terms+of+%22fighting+the+last+war%22+but+in+terms+of+having+tests+based+on+the+business+goals%2C+not+the+design+and+internals...%29+It+can+be+quite+interesting+work+%28especially+if+you%27re+looking+for+a+broader+understanding+of+the+product%2C+which+you%27ll+need+for+any+higher+level+work+on+it%2C+assuming+that+is+your+ambition...%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-12-07
- About:
Google starts selling unlocked Android Dev Phone 1 to developers! : programming
- When:
Sun Dec 7 02:55:36 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7hr5i/google_starts_selling_unlocked_android_dev_phone/
- What:
- * _Mark_ 1 point 217 milliseconds ago[+] (0 children) _Mark_ 1 point 217 milliseconds ago[-] When the Openmoko NEO1973 shipped, they had the exact same problem (and just as many complaints) - apparently the issue is having a shipper handle insurance and VAT and customs for one-off purchases, when you don't have a business presence or reseller in the target country. When+the+Openmoko+NEO1973+shipped%2C+they+had+the+exact+same+problem+%28and+just+as+many+complaints%29+-+apparently+the+issue+is+having+a+shipper+handle+insurance+and+VAT+and+customs+for+one-off+purchases%2C+when+you+don%27t+have+a+business+presence+or+reseller+in+the+target+country. * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
- About:
url shortening gets "*" wrong
- When:
Sun Dec 7 00:33:22 2008
- Where:
http://getsatisfaction.com/twitter/topics/url_shortening_gets_wrong
- What:
- url shortening gets "*" wrong url-shortening in the web-ui gets "*" wrong; try http://www.svtea.com/foundations/stor... (the tinyurl link http://tinyurl.com/56a99x only goes up to the T0115, and the *81 ends up in the tweet after it... which appears to work, by accident of how svtea is implemented, but it isn't right...) sad I’m mildly frustrated
2008-12-05
- About:
Perl 5 Programmers Are Dying : programming
- When:
Fri Dec 5 01:58:31 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7hcl0/perl_5_programmers_are_dying/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 1 second ago[-] We've done that! In particular, considered perl skill and willingness to learn fast equivalent to python skill (both of which are secondary to general debugging skill, but we build pretty much everything in python or C++ these days) Once they get past the stage of "hit with a rolled up newspaper for using a regexp instead of a readable builtin" they turn out pretty well :-) We%27ve+done+that%21+In+particular%2C+considered+perl+skill+and+willingness+to+learn+fast+equivalent+to+python+skill+%28both+of+which+are+secondary+to+general+debugging+skill%2C+but+we+build+pretty+much+everything+in+python+or+C%2B%2B+these+days%29+Once+they+get+past+the+stage+of+%22hit+with+a+rolled+up+newspaper+for+using+a+regexp+instead+of+a+readable+builtin%22+they+turn+out+pretty+well+%3A-%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
- About:
cjsmith: Oh, another thing
- When:
Fri Dec 5 01:24:55 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/875504.html?view=9007344#t9007344
- What:
- DROOL *zap* [info]eichin 2008-12-05 06:24 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully :-) I'm waiting until they open the New York sales/maintenance office (flatbedding it 200 miles for major repairs is plausible, 3000 miles is not) but by that point, the Aptera might be plausible (though the Mini-E probably won't be...) The new transmissions are supposed to be shipping "now" so it could have one - the "easy" way to tell is if you can get to 120mph from 0 without shifting or only 60 :-) (Reply to this)
2008-12-01
- About:
Ned Batchelder: Things I don't like about doctest
- When:
Mon Dec 1 00:51:13 2008
- Where:
http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200811/things_i_dont_like_about_doctest.html#commentform
- What:
- _Mark_ 11:51 PM on 30 Nov 2008 At a lunch chat at pycon2008, someone mentioned that they were very pleased with the "write an executable API doc first" model of using doctest - in particular, it gets a lot of the plain usability issues of the API out of the way before you even have code. His suggestion was that as far as narrative flow goes, the more obscure cases go in an Appendix - since the user may actually want to consult them (if they're not as obscure as you thought they were) and will have high confidence in their accuracy, even if they don't need to read them most of the time. It seemed like a plausible way to avoid too much "clutter" that inline doctests seem to cause...
2008-11-30
- About:
codemonth: Day 30 - Final Wrapup
- When:
Sun Nov 30 17:31:06 2008
- Where:
http://community.livejournal.com/codemonth/12718.html?view=13998#t13998
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-11-30 10:30 pm UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Comment Posted Successfully I didn't get any further improvements in to MMMRavs, though I did poke at jythonroid, and learned enough about git remote operation that I'm probably going back to CVS :-) I also set up a build environment stashed on the phone itself, to free up some space on the laptop (I don't use java for anything else, and 200M makes a difference on the EEEpc...) That said, I have a design and detailed plan for the future of MMMRavs... but I'm not going to put up with the tediousness of java for it, even if it means writing some bytecode translators of my own. (Reply to this)
2008-11-19
- About:
MINI E 'unboxed' in LA to the delight of car nerds, your mom - Engadget
- When:
Wed Nov 19 18:30:56 2008
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/19/mini-e-unboxed-in-la-to-the-delight-of-car-nerds-your-mom/1#c15690300
- What:
- _Mark_ _Mark_ @ Nov 19th 2008 6:30PM @SteveJ: "Other electric cars" like... The Tesla? (oops, no backseat) The WrightSpeed X1? (oops, no front passenger seat either) The EV1? (oops, a much larger car, now buried in the desert) Energy density is the major limiting factor in electric cars (and will probably remain so for decades), it's nowhere *near* gasoline, so if you want gasoline-car-equivalent range, you need more of it - and it has to fit *somewhere*...
2008-11-17
- About:
simonkagstrom: Frodo on a SE k810i
- When:
Sun Nov 16 23:14:32 2008
- Where:
http://simonkagstrom.livejournal.com/29219.html?view=20259#t20259
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-11-17 04:14 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully On a whim, I fed it to a J2ME MIDP runner for Android but the converted app crashed immediately. (From the logcat output, it looks like it's a problem on the netmite side, but just thought you'd be interested to know...) (Reply to this)
2008-11-12
- About:
codemonth: Day 13
- When:
Wed Nov 12 00:58:17 2008
- Where:
http://community.livejournal.com/codemonth/12016.html?view=13040#t13040
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-11-12 05:58 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Comment Posted Successfully I ended up putting more time into learning git... and beta-testing someone else's android app (TouchTip, a tip calculator that has a UI that takes into account some key bits of Fitts's Law.) (Reply to this)
- About:
cjsmith: Bits and pieces
- When:
Wed Nov 12 00:42:43 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/872882.html?view=8966834#t8966834
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-11-12 05:42 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > that I now have the job of editing it "The reward for a job well done... is another, harder job" :-) (Reply to this)
2008-11-10
- About:
mjg59: Android
- When:
Mon Nov 10 18:08:15 2008
- Where:
http://mjg59.livejournal.com/100221.html?view=1138301#t1138301
- What:
- Re: Great. [info]eichin 2008-11-10 11:08 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > Maybe someone will bring Android up on an OpenMoko http://benno.id.au/blog/2008/11/02/android-on-neo1973 (Note that one of the things that doomed the Neo was that they couldn't talk to the GPS from open code, and they couldn't use the 850mhz radio at all.) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-11-03
- About:
websequencediagrams.com :: View topic - Suggestions
- When:
Mon Nov 3 17:26:40 2008
- Where:
http://www.websequencediagrams.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=239#239
- What:
- _Mark_ Guest PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: rotation? Reply with quote Another suggestion - for some of the shorter diagrams, running left-to-right instead of top to bottom would be nicer (especially when pasting it somewhere with more descriptive text below.) Might not be strictly correct in any of the given styles, but it's more about transcribing whiteboard brainstorms, for me...
- About:
codemonth: Day "one"
- When:
Mon Nov 3 00:03:21 2008
- Where:
http://community.livejournal.com/codemonth/11217.html?view=12241#t12241
- What:
- Something Android... [info]eichin 2008-11-03 05:03 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Comment Posted Successfully My original choice was going to be "Port MMMRavs from palmos to Android" but I spent about 10 hours on that last week (instead of, say, preparing codemonth postings :-} ) and a first cut is actually done, so that's clearly not a month long project... for the first week, at least, I'll focus on improving it, but then I'll have to find something for the rest of the month.
2008-11-01
- About:
1988 TV News report on the Morris Worm : programming
- When:
Sat Nov 1 06:24:07 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7alvf/1988_tv_news_report_on_the_morris_worm/
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 331 milliseconds ago[-] As we explained in Microscope and Tweezers the initial "grappling hook" got into a lot of systems via sendmail - even at least one Cray - because it was a chunk of C code that got compiled on the victim machine. Once that part was in, it tried to launch a VAX or 68K (Sun) payload; these were the binary chunks that we pulled the all-nighter decompiling, and those worked on far fewer machines (but enough to be interesting :-) As+we+explained+in+%5BMicroscope+and+Tweezers%5D%28http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mit.edu%2F%7Eeichin%2Fvirus%2Fmain.html%29+the+initial+%22grappling+hook%22+got+into+a+lot+of+systems+via+sendmail+-+even+at+least+one+Cray+-+because+it+was+a+chunk+of+C+code+that+got+compiled+on+the+victim+machine.+Once+that+part+was+in%2C+it+tried+to+launch+a+VAX+or+68K+%28Sun%29+payload%3B+these+were+the+binary+chunks+that+we+pulled+the+all-nighter+decompiling%2C+and+those+worked+on+far+fewer+machines+%28but+enough+to+be+interesting+%3A-%29 * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-10-29
- About:
websequencediagrams.com :: View topic - SVG?
- When:
Wed Oct 29 13:37:22 2008
- Where:
http://www.websequencediagrams.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=229#229
- What:
- _Mark_ Guest PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: SVG? Reply with quote Great tool (ran across it on planetpython) - there are a couple of whiteboard diagrams that I've never had the time to learn a more complex tool for, now coworkers don't have to put up with my handwriting anymore Smile Any chance of an SVG output format? (The browsers I care about support it, and it's easy to stuff into some other tool afterwards.) Thanks again...
- About:
Axiotron Modservice takes your sad, disused Macbook, converts it into swanky new tablet - Engadget
- When:
Tue Oct 28 23:26:51 2008
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/28/axiotron-modservice-takes-your-sad-disused-macbook-converts-it/1#c15172542
- What:
- _Mark_ _Mark_ @ Oct 28th 2008 11:26PM Touch may be overrated, but that's irrelevant - the ModBook is a tablet screen, not a touch screen, and it only responds to a stylus. (And yeah, OSX handwriting support is... unfortunate at best, but for anything visual, the modbook is quite nice.)
2008-10-23
- About:
_Mark_ comments on Debian's Vim maintainer switches to Emacs
- When:
Thu Oct 23 14:08:49 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/78ww0/debians_vim_maintainer_switches_to_emacs/c05zrz9
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 2 minutes ago[-] Note that he specifically mentions living in Gnome/GTK+ so yeah, we can be pretty sure he's already using X... Note+that+he+%2Aspecifically%2A+mentions+living+in+Gnome%2FGTK%2B+so+yeah%2C+we+can+be+pretty+sure+he%27s+already+using+X... * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-10-22
- About:
inopia comments on Android is now Open Source
- When:
Tue Oct 21 23:18:23 2008
- Where:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/78gb7/android_is_now_open_source/c05yo90
- What:
- _Mark_ 1 point 225 milliseconds ago[-] This one's on known issues too - look for "FIXED: webkit". This+one%27s+on+%5Bknown+issues%5D%28http%3A%2F%2Fsource.android.com%2Fknown-issues%29+too+-+look+for+%2A%2A%22FIXED%3A+webkit%22%2A%2A. * permalink * parent * edit * delete * reply
2008-10-16
- About:
Why I purchased the Sony PRS-505 Reader | Thoughts by Ted
- When:
Thu Oct 16 10:35:09 2008
- Where:
http://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2008/01/19/why-i-purchased-the-sony-prs-505-reader/#comment-966
- What:
- # 24 _Mark_ Says: October 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am If you’re still soliciting ideas, you’re a year away or more; the ebook space is only just reaching the point where design improvements on the technology already available make a difference - there are already-demoed technology improvements that would disrupt existing products entirely regardless of how well designed they are, if they ever get to production (easy example: flexible screens), so investing in incremental (design-only) improvements to the current tech would seem like a bad investment… another way to put it: we’re not seeing 1.5’s, we’re seeing a stream of new 1.0’s…
2008-10-15
- About:
Eli Bendersky’s website » Blog Archive » On parsing the C standard library headers
- When:
Tue Oct 14 22:54:48 2008
- Where:
http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2008/10/10/on-parsing-the-c-standard-library-headers/#comment-134161
- What:
- # # _Mark_No Gravatar Says: October 15th, 2008 at 5:54 am “I see no reason to use the #line directive unless a file was included, and why would a file be included in the middle of a struct spec.” That’s why I suggested the yacc output example; the #line directives in the generated C code lead to debugging information and error messages that point to lines in the higher level source, which don’t line up neatly with C data structures. include directives are just one special case of that…
2008-10-14
- About:
Set Operations in the Unix Shell - good coders code, great reuse
- When:
Mon Oct 13 20:57:36 2008
- Where:
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/set-operations-in-unix-shell/#comment-5931
- What:
- _Mark_ says: October 14th, 2008 at 2:30 am Aww, I was disappointed by the power set example. You see, back in the mid 1990’s, when we were implementing gcc multilib support (this is the idea that if the user gives gcc flags that lead to incompatible ABIs, you need to supply corresponding libgcc and possibly libc/libm that match…) at Cygnus (mostly for embedded work) I had to implement power set in sh (after all, the user could combine the incompatible options) - and not even full POSIX sh, but a subset that pre-autoconf configure scripts were allowed to use (so that they actually worked on things like LynxOS.) I mostly remember it being unpleasant, and hoped I’d find something more modern and elegant here :-) (Eventually Ian Taylor rewrote all that, and I don’t know what the current gcc-multilib packaging does - avoiding the problem and specifying the desired combinations explicitly would not have been wrong…)
2008-10-10
- About:
Eli Bendersky’s website » Blog Archive » On parsing the C standard library headers
- When:
Fri Oct 10 17:52:52 2008
- Where:
http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2008/10/10/on-parsing-the-c-standard-library-headers/#comment-133512
- What:
- _Mark_No Gravatar Says: October 11th, 2008 at 12:52 am Why do you think there’s anything unusuabl about that #line directive? if you have any interesting macro expansions, or any C generated by other language tools (look at yacc output, for example.) newlib is a good “easy” choice, since it’s based on an old BSD libc so it started out fairly cross-platform and not especially gcc-centric like linux headers tend to be. Depending on what you plan to do with this parser (programmatic augmentation of C code with additional checks? automatic conversion of headers to pyrex or ctypes declarations?) you might consider treating that as merely a starting point and trying GNU libc as your next challenge…
2008-10-08
- About:
jessenoller.com » Blog Archive » Threads can’t be serialized?!
- When:
Wed Oct 8 16:14:06 2008
- Where:
http://jessenoller.com/2008/10/08/threads-cant-be-serialized/?disqus_reply=2945868#comment-2945868
- What:
- * Permalink * Admin * o o o Remove Post o Block email o Block IP address _Mark_ 0 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment. That's one of the cool things about Stackless Python, no? you can pickle microthreads, and ISTR move them between machines... reply
2008-09-29
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - brand new defective imager
- When:
Mon Sep 29 19:18:16 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=253&p=1342#p1342
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: brand new defective imager Postby eichin on Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:17 pm Alkalines have a mostly-linear discharge curve, which is a problem for electronics, which just don't work at some given voltage, even though there's charge remaining; rechargables are typically flat and then fall off a cliff. The button-pusher problem has a lot of myth around it - while low batteries apparently *can* cause it, it can also happen on entirely fresh batteries; it's really a design flaw in the stepper motor control circuitry, it can't always correctly start in the right direction... eichin Posts: 39 Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:50 pm * Website
2008-09-17
- About:
cjsmith: Bland bean soup
- When:
Wed Sep 17 12:32:39 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/862714.html?view=8844282#t8844282
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-17 04:32 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Did you just dump the salt pork in, or fry it up first? (The one thing I've ever used salt pork for was pierogi - when frying them, a little in with the onions in the pan. Thus I think it's really more "something to have maillard reactions happen to" than a basic flavor :-) (Reply to this)
2008-09-15
- About:
cjsmith: Thank you, everybody!
- When:
Mon Sep 15 14:41:57 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/861495.html?view=8827959#t8827959
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-15 06:41 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > I am forever grateful to Margaret for telling me earnestly that I don't look like that any more. I realized later that we should have taken snapshots of those pictures so you could make LJ Icons out of them :-) (Reply to this)
2008-09-13
- About:
cjsmith: I'm back!
- When:
Sat Sep 13 14:43:32 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/858635.html?view=8823563#t8823563
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-13 06:43 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully It's a long drive (there's *nothing* near it, other than, well, cows) but yes, it's an awe inspiring site: p100-5210073 The visitors center is "nova episode"-grade, and there's a short film; you can actually walk right up into the shadow of one of the antennas, which is more interesting. They're upgrading the whole thing this fall (all new antennas and data paths and data crunching hardware - right now, the antennas are all connected to *waveguides*, they're going to fiber) and I'd hope the visitor center gets some attention as part of that - but none of that will change the amazement of driving over a ridge (that area doesn't have *hills* really, just plains, ridges, and mountains) and seeing a whole bunch of antennas *very* far away...) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-09-12
- About:
eichin: My Next Car
- When:
Fri Sep 12 17:39:33 2008
- Where:
http://eichin.livejournal.com/71829.html?view=107413#t107413
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-12 09:39 pm UTC (from 208.80.143.4) (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Comment Posted Successfully Just for the record - they're back to the one-forward-gear transmission after a bit of design rework; the press release has a lot of real numbers, for a press release. (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Of course I buy wine based on the label
- When:
Fri Sep 12 17:20:46 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/860466.html?view=8808498#t8808498
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-12 09:20 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully My brother found this p100-5050115 for his last visit :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-09-11
- About:
lonely_squirrel: Mojibake
- When:
Thu Sep 11 11:27:03 2008
- Where:
http://lonely-squirrel.livejournal.com/39105.html?view=85185#t85185
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-09-11 03:26 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully (here via reddit/programming, hi) actually, len on a utf8 string is well defined - it's just defined in terms of bytes, not characters. It might help to realize that an encoded string doesn't actually carry the encoding with it, so len couldn't possibly know how to make characters out of it... Where you may be seeing ambiguity is the difference between a unicode string and a utf-8 string. There was a good talk on this entire issue at pycon2008; the "sane" way to think about it appears to be to * work in unicode (*not* utf-8, unicode) everywhere * the OS hands you bytes; convert to characters (unicode) as soon as you can * the OS wants bytes; convert back from characters (unicode) as late as you can (And of course, "if you find library bugs in this regard, report them" :-) To help with this model, python 2.6/3k introduce an explicit bytes type, which (aside from other features) helps the developer keep track. (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-09-06
- About:
Ned Batchelder: Caches aplenty
- When:
Sat Sep 6 13:34:17 2008
- Where:
http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200809/caches_aplenty.html#commentform
- What:
- _Mark_ 12:33 PM on 6 Sep 2008 Not to excessively critique an admittedly personal-use "cobbled together" script (it does *work* after all :-) but "writing C code in Python" is a pattern I've seen among coworkers too. The script would be a bit more readable (and probably more writable) if you'd used os.path.getsize and os.path.isdir, instead of the more brutal C "stat" equivalents... you might also consider os.walk for the iteration. (In fact I just noticed, at least in python2.5, that "pydoc os.walk" includes a fairly elegant version of the above script...)
2008-08-28
- About:
JJinuxLand: Python: sort | uniq -c via the subprocess module
- When:
Wed Aug 27 23:27:10 2008
- Where:
http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2008/08/python-sort-uniq-c-via-subprocess.html?showComment=1219893960000#c2837095559491477523
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Thanks for the pointer (I hadn't noticed pipes.py before) but it gets two big things wrong: * it takes strings, not lists, so it's doomed to quoting horror * unlike pretty much the entire rest of python, it ignores errors (it doesn't even look *possible* to get the exit statuses out.) (Sadly both of those are based on the interface, not the implementation, so it's not just a matter of fixing bugs.) 8:26 PM
2008-08-13
- About:
cjsmith: On doing what you love
- When:
Wed Aug 13 17:20:30 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/849282.html?thread=8670082#t8670082
- What:
- somewhat aside from the real point... [info]eichin 2008-08-13 09:14 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This What with modern automation and safety equipment, you can actually rent a number of the east coast lighthouses, since they don't have (or need) permanent lighthousekeepers anymore... (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-08-10
- About:
cjsmith: It's real now, whether I believe it or not
- When:
Sat Aug 9 21:54:21 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/847481.html?view=8642681#t8642681
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-08-10 01:54 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Ok, that LJ icon there? *that's* enthusiastic enough :-) yayyyy! congratulations... (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-08-06
- About:
JJinuxLand: Python: sort | uniq -c via the subprocess module
- When:
Wed Aug 6 17:18:47 2008
- Where:
http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2008/08/python-sort-uniq-c-via-subprocess.html
- What:
- _Mark_ said... Confusion like this is why python needs a "pipeline" class on top of subprocess... as benjamin points out, if sort weren't special, neither of your approaches would work. Unix pipes get you a page (4k) of buffer. You instead want to use select (or poll) to write when you can, and to read when you can, and to notice EOFs (and then you want to look at *all* of the exit statuses.) 2:18 PM
2008-07-22
- About:
cjsmith: Names
- When:
Tue Jul 22 01:00:25 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/836440.html?view=8471640#t8471640
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-07-22 05:00 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Actually, MIT eventually figured out that the sane thing to do was to put arriving frosh with matching names in the same temporary rooms - the theory being something like "this is going to give you trouble for four years - get started figuring it out now" :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-07-14
- About:
cjsmith: Are you my spammer?
- When:
Sun Jul 13 23:00:01 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/831319.html?view=8402775#t8402775
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-07-14 02:59 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully I've found http://whocalled.us/ useful for confirming those (useful enough that I sometimes enter new instances...) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-07-08
- About:
cjsmith: Different color of sawdust bars
- When:
Mon Jul 7 23:49:43 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/829516.html?view=8358220#t8358220
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-07-08 03:49 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > darker so, oak sawdust, instead of pine? :-) I agree that the protein powder is probably a primary source of unfortunate results; likewise if you're using more cocoa powder, using more fats too (chocolate chips count) should help. I'd probably whip one or two of the egg whites (or even one whole egg) just to see what it does (do most of the mashing first, maybe, then mix it in right before baking?) If you're adding cinnamon, try some vietnamese cinnamon, it's distinctly different (a little more bite, maybe?) For that matter, through some pepper in... (Reply to this)
2008-07-06
- About:
Coding Horror: Investing in a Quality Programming Chair
- When:
Sat Jul 5 23:10:11 2008
- Where:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001146.html?r=26484#endcomments
- What:
- I found the Aeron great for sitting at a desk for 8 or even 10 hours... *with good posture*. Slouch, and the Aeron will punish you for it. The Humanscale Freedom was the first chair that I found was good for sitting in with my feet on the desk, keyboard in my lap. (The headrest support didn't last, though, it keeps sliding down...) However, both of these are have been retired to home desk-work chairs. My professional seating is a low, poofy, leather armchair - large (not "merely" wide) screen thinkpad, no desk at all, just a nearby filing cabinet. Wonderful setup, the matching sofa works well for drop-in collaboration, and it's lasted several years. (As for RSI: stop using the mouse :-) _Mark_ on July 5, 2008 08:09 PM
2008-06-29
- About:
cjsmith: Almond bars
- When:
Sat Jun 28 22:05:57 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/823718.html?view=8253606#t8253606
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-29 02:04 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully hmm, the mention of almonds reminds me that I should dig up the Alice Medrich brownie recipe - all I remember was that it used ground almonds instead of flour, but I don't now what other tricks it pulled to get away with that. (I don't remember them being enormously sweet, either...) (Reply to this)
2008-06-28
- About:
cjsmith: I know I'm not answering the question
- When:
Sat Jun 28 03:06:58 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/822849.html?view=8250433#t8250433
- What:
- Cane Sugar Soda [info]eichin 2008-06-28 07:05 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully And most (all?) of "Jones Soda" (which I think has only been on the market for a year or two) which is made with Cane Sugar or Cane Juice, no HFCS (and they have some *bizarre* flavors, which is why I've tried some of them - though I find HFCS icky, it's taste/texture, not survival - though more and more allergies/rashes/minor conditions have been getting diagnosed as corn allergy/sensitivity...) (Ah, the intertubes say they switched all flavors over to Cane Sugar last April.) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-06-27
- About:
cjsmith: Some days are like that
- When:
Fri Jun 27 00:45:04 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/822577.html?view=8232753#t8232753
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-27 04:42 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully As we've gotten larger and actually keep a list of whose turn it is to get lunch for office lunch days, we've just asked people to add restrictions to the page - not that the whole thing needs to meet all of the restrictions, just that you include something reasonable for all of the options. Off the top of my head, the list has included: no shrimp, vegetarian, "vegan but don't even try, I'll bring my own", no beans, no raw fish... so when someone gets boloco wraps, there are veggie ones, and there are rice-and-meat-only ones (or even better, we're big enough to get the qdoba hot-bar, where they show up with build-it-yourself tacos for N); when there's sushi, there's katsu as well. Sometimes people screw up (well, not with the shrimp one, that's actually a fatal allergy, not a "mere" preference) but most of the time it works, and everyone makes an effort. Simply communicating about it does seem to have made a difference, socially (I'm sure it's partly because we're big enough that as long as *some* people are being receptive and encouraging, the others will take the hint.) Works for us, anyway, though we're starting to get big enough that it's getting more complicated (last time I needed several people to help me carry food the two blocks back from Mary's :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-06-25
- About:
eichin: Summertime
- When:
Wed Jun 25 15:03:47 2008
- Where:
http://eichin.livejournal.com/76248.html?view=105688#t105688
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-25 07:03 pm UTC (from 208.80.143.4) (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Comment Posted Successfully Current guess is that it hit somewhere near Tufts (which also happens to be one of the few things with any altitude in that direction) - I haven't scraped flash-to-boom times out of the video yet... but it's a bearing of 14 degrees west of north, from university park. (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
Range Finder Tool on a Map
- When:
Tue Jun 24 20:09:06 2008
- Where:
http://www.freemaptools.com/range-finder.htm
- What:
- Even without being able to click on an endpoint, it's sufficient to try a few numbers and refine a guess at a bearing. (This was the first thing I found when attempting to figure out from a photo where a lightning strike might have been...) Thanks! By _Mark_ on 24/06/2008
2008-06-24
- About:
cjsmith: Drum roll please
- When:
Tue Jun 24 00:02:06 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/821345.html?view=8218209#t8218209
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-24 04:01 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > Brilliant, but terrifying. Quite literally brilliant at least with a little help :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-06-17
- About:
General upload failure (3) - Desktop Flickr Organizer | Google Groups
- When:
Tue Jun 17 03:42:32 2008
- Where:
http://groups.google.com/group/dfo-users/browse_thread/thread/50e04abad374aca5/b96913003c8ff952#b96913003c8ff952
- What:
- Jun 17, 3:40 am From: "eic...@gmail.com" <eic...@gmail.com> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:40:59 -0700 (PDT) Local: Tues, Jun 17 2008 3:40 am Subject: Re: General upload failure (3) Reply | Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Remove | Report this message | Find messages by this author Good catch - I just started playing with dfo, and filed debian bug 486304 on what is basically the same thing in PersistentInformation.InsertPool; presumably all of those RunQuery's need to be sanitized (or replaced with something that does real SQL argument passing instead of String.Format? Some googling suggests constructing an SqliteParameter object for this case... (I'd pass on more detail but this is the first time I've even *read* c-sharp code, so I don't want to mangle anything in translation :-)
2008-06-16
- About:
Programming Limits - Plumbling Life's Depths
- When:
Mon Jun 16 02:29:54 2008
- Where:
http://blog.vrplumber.com/index.php?/archives/240-Programming-Limits.html#c1080
- What:
- You don't even need a large-but-generic subsystem to see this effect - optparse is enough. "Oh, I'll just grab things out of sys.argv" "Oh, we want a --help, ok fine I'll just filter that out first"... it's just a lot easier to slap that down and demand optparse. I think the examples are key - putting some simple "no really, just cut&paste this even if you're doing no argument parsing" templates on our (internal, corporate, developer) wiki made a huge difference. I also think "batteries included" makes a huge difference as far as treating existing modules as part of the toolset that you're obliged to understand and not get all NIH about... (ps. you can probably guess that I picked this up from PlanetPython, even though you've tried to be more generic in your arguments :-) #1 Mark Eichin (Homepage) on 2008-06-16 02:29 (Reply)
2008-06-10
- About:
Who owns your comments? (Scripting News)
- When:
Tue Jun 10 18:31:39 2008
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/06/09/whoOwnsYourComments.html#comment-633125
- What:
- * Parent * Permalink Mark Eichin 18 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. Same here, scripting.com is the *only* site I comment on that uses disqus (which is why I haven't bothered with verification - no leverage, for me, in doing so.) I've also always, mmm, "clarified" that my comments were mine by publishing them in parallel on what I call a "trackforward" page (punning on trackback, of course.) Unfortunately that involves some non-portable custom tools - google Notebook has most of the required mechanisms, though... reply
- About:
So, are you gonna get an iPhone 3G? - Engadget
- When:
Tue Jun 10 11:57:46 2008
- Where:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/so-are-you-gonna-get-an-iphone-3g/9#c12577353
- What:
- Mark Eichin Mark Eichin @ Jun 10th 2008 11:57AM 3G/HSPDA data looks sweet - too bad I can't use it for anything "real" like uploading pictures from a real camera (thus "keep trying" :-) Fortunately there are real HSPDA phones like the E66 coming soon too...
2008-06-08
- About:
cjsmith: Well isn't that special?
- When:
Sat Jun 7 23:01:12 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/814634.html?view=8085290#t8085290
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-08 03:00 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully google finds only one reference on the entire net to that quote - giving the same context - and the highly relevant variation: "I could eat printouts and *shit* better code than that!" (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-06-02
- About:
cjsmith: Eggs
- When:
Mon Jun 2 01:22:32 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/812947.html?view=8067219#t8067219
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-06-02 05:22 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully The web seems to think that if you're a "supertaster" you won't like stevia either, though it's more in the licorice direction than just bitterness... Don't forget that you can use chocolate in other things... a couple of ounces of very dark chocolate, plus cinnamon and chili powder went quite well in lasagne at the last chocolate party. Not sure what it would do with eggs, though :-) but if you're adding chili pepper anyway (just got back from NM so "of course" red chili is what you put on scrambled eggs...) it's something to consider... or if you're just bored enough with the eggs to try something :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-05-31
- About:
Qualified Perceptions - Birdwatching: Red Tailed Hawk
- When:
Sat May 31 19:33:15 2008
- Where:
http://firstfrost.livejournal.com/138828.html?view=709196#t709196
- What:
- From: [info]eichin Date: May 31st, 2008 11:33 pm (UTC) Delete Track This (Link) Oh, hah, didn't even think to check that it was a plain image. Thanks! (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
- About:
Qualified Perceptions - Birdwatching: Red Tailed Hawk
- When:
Sat May 31 19:17:56 2008
- Where:
http://firstfrost.livejournal.com/138828.html?view=708428#t708428
- What:
- eichin From: [info]eichin Date: May 31st, 2008 11:17 pm (UTC) Delete Track This (Link) According to the MIT-hawk-cam page (a few years back), pigeons are "junkfood" for hawks, very fatty (and since pigeons scavenge, full of other nasty stuff too.) So maybe it's just as well that the pigeon escaped :-) (btw. just noticed the knitting-works-in-progress sidebar - how do you set that up? or is the knitting community powerful enough that it's a basic livejournal feature now? :-)
- About:
Amazon.com: Mark Eichin's review of Birds of New Mexico Field Guide
- When:
Sat May 31 18:37:34 2008
- Where:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CPYVVZU8ZJJ5/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
- What:
- 5.0 out of 5 stars Best tourist/casual bird book ever., May 31, 2008 By Mark Eichin I'm a "photographer who happens to think birds are neat", not a "real" birder; I picked this up on a vacation to Albuquerque, and it was great for figuring out what all of these unfamiliar-but-probably-common brightly colored birds are. I don't want to become an ecosystem-expert on the southwest -- but "hey, that's a cool looking red-and-orange bird *click* *click* ok, now what was it? *flip to `birds that have prominent yellow'* *flip through a handful of pictures* Oh look, Western Tanager, I'd never even heard of those before..." If that's you too, this is the book you want. (Of course, you can also show your snapshots on-camera to the nature center volunteers, they're nice that way... but other tourists won't know either :-) It's not Sibley's. It compares favorably with the Smithsonian Handbooks for good at-a-glance presentation of useful information, though, and it's small enough to actually bring with you. Permalink
2008-05-29
- About:
cjsmith: Ah Biaxin, how do I love thee
- When:
Thu May 29 13:50:57 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/812362.html?view=8050762#t8050762
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-05-29 05:50 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully re food tastes changing - I wonder if something like this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html?_r=1&oref=slogin would have useful compensating-for-treatment benefits (it's a berry that screws up the response to "sour" as far as I can tell from the description...) (Reply to this)
2008-05-07
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Feature Request: Move to selected grid position during pause
- When:
Wed May 7 15:37:26 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=159&p=883#p883
- What:
- * * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Feature Request: Move to selected grid position during pause Postby eichin on Wed May 07, 2008 2:37 pm Another possibility, if you have another camera handy, is to just take the desired overlay picture with that camera - then later feed the completed panorama and the new picture to autopano, I've seen it handle that kind of thing usefully (by accident - I took some wide-scale context shots and pasted them in with more detailed ones and it successfully merged them...) eichin
2008-05-05
- About:
cjsmith: Foot-related medical stuff
- When:
Mon May 5 17:19:38 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/802871.html?view=7903543#t7903543
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-05-05 09:19 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This > and stayed that way for about twenty minutes before I gave up On a longer baseline, staring at a needle for twenty minutes without passing out, all by itself, is progress for you, isn't it? :-)
2008-04-22
- About:
Bug #144621 - Comment #83
- When:
Tue Apr 22 17:26:48 2008
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22/+bug/144621/comments/83
- What:
- milestone gutsy-updates Bug #144621: iwl4965 drops out from time to time (Santa Rosa) Mark Eichin wrote 31 seconds ago: (permalink) FYI I'm running pre-hardy, updated as of 20080422, on a Lenovo Thinkpad T60p: 26d10014b09439dc5a8573c2a6f85b0a /lib/firmware/2.6.24-16-generic/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode 26d10014b09439dc5a8573c2a6f85b0a /lib/firmware/2.6.24-16-generic/iwlwifi-3945.ucode which match iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.1.5.tgz from http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads, and I'm still seeing [ 2218.395642] wlan0: No ProbeResp from current AP 00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx - assume out of range [ 2219.196315] wlan0: No STA entry for own AP 00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx [ 2222.988446] wlan0: No STA entry for own AP 00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx which persist until I unload and reload the module. (I also have the problem that occasionally the reload entirely hangs the laptop, leaving just a blinking caps-lock light as an indication...) I do run across suspend and restore cycles, and move among a number of wireless domains (I always just force-reload the module after restoring from suspend; it sometimes doesn't need it, but the force reload is always faster :-) Only seems to happen with WPA; when I'm using WPA I'm also using 802.11a; lspci output: 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 1010 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 217 Region 0: Memory at edf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
2008-04-12
- About:
From Hello World to Guestbook (Scripting News)
- When:
Sat Apr 12 14:59:20 2008
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/04/11/fromHelloWorldToGuestbook.html?disqus_reply=329071#comment-329071
- What:
- _Mark_ 15 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. Taking a quick look at xmlrpclib in python2.5, Transport.make_connection just uses httplib.HTTP - so worst case you could subclass Transport and replace make_connection with something that calls Fetch instead. (Or you could just try it, since you actually got in :-) and they might have already taken care of that...)
2008-04-07
- About:
whocalled.us
- When:
Mon Apr 7 15:46:18 2008
- Where:
http://whocalled.us/lookup/4077223532
- What:
- _Mark_ got this today, and about a week ago; stayed at a doubletree a month ago (which turns out to be a hilton property) which would definitely explain it
- About:
cjsmith: Yogurt
- When:
Mon Apr 7 15:39:40 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/796552.html?view=7744136#t7744136
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-04-07 07:38 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully A couple of the chains here started carrying Fage http://www.fageusa.com/ greek yogurt, and I like their "real" one (product name "Total") - at least in part because it's a very different texture - but it's also not pretending to be a diet food :-) Nothing added, it's sold with a "sidecar" of honey or strawberry jam. (Not that I think it's a *healthy* food per se, just that it isn't sweetened...) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2008-04-05
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Canon Hacker's Development Kit
- When:
Sat Apr 5 17:47:18 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=135&p=770#p770
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Canon Hacker's Development Kit Postby eichin on Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:47 pm A recent discussion of camera internals pointed out that PTP http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/ actually provided a lot of real control in standard ways (along with vendor extensions) and that it might be possible to use it to * record X,Y position in panorama in an EXIF comment * shoot and know reliably when the shot is complete * do bracketing shots, allowing giga-HDR, on cameras that don't have automatic exposure bracketing already * alternate between manual and auto focus (or exposure) to get alternate views of a given frame, for later manual selection This needs a reasonable USB stack, so it's the kind of thing you'd prototype with a gumstix or eeepc attached to the gigapan (but a gumstix would certainly fit inside the current case :-) ) eichin
2008-04-04
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - FIRMWARE WISHLIST
- When:
Fri Apr 4 19:38:15 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56&p=763#p763
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: FIRMWARE WISHLIST Postby eichin on Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:38 pm Hah, yeah, a timeout would be the easy way to do that - my thought for that case was an IR remote or something like that, but that adds a lot of complexity (though it could let you remote-point the camera too... at which point you also want the laser pointer collinear with the lens :-) eichin
2008-04-03
- About:
cjsmith: Motorola's new phone
- When:
Thu Apr 3 02:33:49 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/795941.html?view=7728165#t7728165
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-04-03 06:32 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully So they're still 10 years behind? :-) (Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997, James Bond's taser-phone [that also remote-controls his BMW and has a lock-pick in the antenna] is an Ericsson.) (Reply to this
2008-04-02
- About:
_opus_: And if your curiosity's satisfied...
- When:
Wed Apr 2 14:06:35 2008
- Where:
http://users.livejournal.com/_opus_/14040.html?view=80344#t80344
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-04-02 06:06 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > Dr. Sears, not Sears and Roebuck. naw, the kid clearly needs Baby's First Power Tools :-)
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Annotation / Tour / Gallery
- When:
Wed Apr 2 00:15:09 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=129&p=735#p735
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Annotation / Tour / Gallery Postby eichin on Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:14 pm Some thoughts: * portals - some way of tagging a location in a gigapan so you can fly through one into another * common locations - be able to browse one, then switch to the "same" location in another (for example, to show seasonal change) * (much simpler) sequences of snapshots - with adjustable timing and large (slide-presentation-like) captions to "talk" about each snapshot (or audio clips, but I'd never use that :-) ) I'm mostly thinking about the kind of things I sometimes do with normal photographs - we don't yet have a way to take large gigapans quickly enough to capture "action" on a personal scale, but http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=4087 is an example of one I expect to reproduce at least roughly-similarly (I can reproduce the camera position to within a couple of inches http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/2376482430/ , the left edge to less than a degree (there's a visible flagpole I used as a reference), and the top edge to within about five degrees, and can then just "count out" the same dimensions) at least once a month this year - maybe more often, but it took * half an hour to shoot (33m44s on the camera including one brief backtrack, not counting setup but that's ok) * several hours (some of "overnight") to cook, on a modbook * several hours (a good chunk of the "day" while I was at work) to upload from home DSL * some fairly lucky weather conditions to even be able to try :-) Being able to transition through the year would be pretty cool. eichin
2008-04-01
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Mac stitcher wishlist
- When:
Tue Apr 1 15:24:29 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=128&p=733#p733
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Mac stitcher wishlist Postby eichin on Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:24 pm randy wrote:- right button drag up and down for computers which have it I thought I'd tried this and it failed - turns out that right button isn't reliable on my wacom stylus if I press it too hard, so the interface wasn't working because the modbook wasn't seeing the right button at all. Not knowing it was *supposed* to do anything I didn't pursue it further - so consider this a request for some in-viewer documentation (maybe some text in the wasted space in the bottom margin of the viewer.) One big usability advantage the gigapan.org interface has is that it has affordances - you actually get a visible cue that there's an interface you can manipulate... Also, once I got this, it exposed an actual bug: if you open a gigapan, view it, open another smaller gigapan, view it (in the same window, which is just a basic "mac apps don't do that" bug) and zoom out... you see a black border, and then leftover frames from the previous gigapan. Harmless but a little strange :-) (It would be nice if Open Recent worked, too...) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Mac stitcher wishlist
- When:
Mon Mar 31 23:52:25 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=128#p731
- What:
- Top * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: Mac stitcher wishlist Postby eichin on Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:47 pm I couldn't find a way to make it zoom, only pan-on-sphere, so it wasn't particularly useful. eichin
2008-03-31
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - website feature wish-list
- When:
Mon Mar 31 01:52:26 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=95&p=729#p729
- What:
- * Edit post * Delete post * Report this post * Reply with quote Re: website feature wish-list Postby eichin on Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:52 am Just a minor one, for the previewer flash app itself: an option to move the navigation controls over to the right? (I'm probably the only one having this problem, but I'm using a modbook - I'd expect TabletPC users to have the same issue - I'm right handed, so my hand basically blocks the entire image while I'm manipulating the controls :-) (of course, google maps etc. don't support this either - still, if noone knows about it it can't get fixed :-) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Mac stitcher wishlist
- When:
Mon Mar 31 01:41:55 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=128
- What:
- Mac stitcher wishlist Postby eichin on Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:41 am Just some things to make it more mac-app-like that I've run across in the last couple of weeks of use.. I haven't checked these against the experimental version of the stitcher yet, though. * Use Keychain to store the login info, instead of having to retype it all the time (Yes, I'm one of the few to actually use a modbook, which ends up making me more sensitive than I'd otherwise be to having to type things once, let alone twice... but really, everything else uses keychain, so it's probably just a matter of grabbing some sample code) * Actually make the "now open gigapan.org/..." url at least selectable though actually clickable (or even just open it?) would be good too (Dropping a weblink with the same name as the gigapan itself would also make it obvious which gigapans had actually been uploaded...) * Export a TIFF alongside the other data automatically, or at least fill in the name by default so it matches (I realize that some are too big for tiff, "do the right thing" there :-) A button to directly open it would be nice too, since I need to look at it every time to decide about uploading it, and tiff->preview is the only choice * (not actually mac-specific) Have a native browser! Or at least a fake local web server to run the gigapan.org flash viewer locally, but there's a lot more potential for smoothness and speed in something that uses the modern mac APIs * Get an icon :-) if for no other reason than to distinguish the stitcher from the standalone uploader... or are you saving that for 1.0? :D * A pre-upload info page with size in gigapixels (I seem to recall a request to upload panoramas of primarily 0.5 gigapixel or larger, though I just checked my copy of the beta "promises" page and it doesn't actually ask for that, just 2 per week?) and other info - especially if there's merge-quality output from the stitcher that might be useful in deciding not to post a given image... (I'm sure there's a long list of things actually being worked on, too; this is just feedback on the *visible* issues - algorithmic work on the stitcher is probably more important than any of these...) eichin
2008-03-30
- About:
Are you using Firefox 3? (Scripting News)
- When:
Sat Mar 29 20:24:10 2008
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/03/28/areYouUsingFirefox3.html
- What:
- * Permalink _Mark_ 20 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. I'm using it because (1) a lot of developers at PyCon2008 mentioned their use of it (2) 3.0b4 is the default browser in the current Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) beta (more for pyxpcom than web browsing, though it seems to handle that fine.) reply
2008-03-29
- About:
A digital camera designed for bloggers? (Scripting News)
- When:
Sat Mar 29 19:28:27 2008
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/03/29/aDigitalCameraDesignedForB.html
- What:
- * o ^ o v o Permalink _Mark_ 17 minutes ago 1 point Please login to rate. The eye.fi doesn't actually help, unless you take all your pictures near the same access point. (It's amazing that the little 16-bit RISC memory controller chip even has enough CPU to do that :-) Concord (a polaroid brand, I think?) made a bluetooth camera in their EyeQ line a few years back, but I don't know if they ever got past 3mp and no optical zoom (ie. "no better than a phonecam".) Doesn't look like they still make them, either. reply
2008-03-25
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - auto focus or multiple takes w/ 2 different focus distances
- When:
Tue Mar 25 02:22:11 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=119&p=685#p685
- What:
- Re: auto focus or multiple takes w/ 2 different focus distances Postby eichin on Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:21 am I'm using the Canon SX100IS and the autofocus is fast enough that I leave it on by default (also, manual exposure and manual aperture are a lot easier to set and adjust on that camera.) The Buckingham Fountain is probably the one picture of mine where it really *matters* (the closest point is a plaque "at my feet", and the farthest is some trees that are at least 200ft away) but all of the ones I've posted have been taken that way. eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Tue Mar 25 02:07:21 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=643#p643
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby eichin on Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:10 pm Another day of shooting; another set of servo failures. First try, no problems; 30-picture panorama on the back porch, straight out of the house (ie. unit warm, batteries idle.) Carried it outside for a while (in 45F-50F weather) then set it up for another run - and it ran backwards again. Did the power off/move the arm/power on/shoot again cycle 3 times, and then it was running forward again; took two 60-image panoramas with no misfires. At the end, battery status was "7.3V Good". The failures were consistently rotating the white bit into the frame, instead of into the lever arm. The "back up and re-try" feature is very useful for this; also the fact that I can power-cycle it mid-panorama and have it continue where it left off. eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Replacement button pusher?
- When:
Tue Mar 25 02:06:40 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=115&p=642#p642
- What:
- Re: Replacement button pusher? Postby eichin on Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:39 pm I found mine (but having some extras will be useful.) After wrangling with it a bit to get it in, I'm not actually sure how it ever came out :-) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Tue Mar 25 02:01:59 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=665#p665
- What:
- As I think I mentioned in another thread - the gigapan is solidly built, perhaps even overbuilt (but then, if it really was designed for children to use (it's succeeded there, I just don't know if that was a specific design point) then it really isn't *possible* to overbuild :-) ) and I certainly don't coddle mine. The first shot wasn't even on a tripod; the transport was in the PyCon2008 carrybag, entirely unpadded, just to provide it with handles; it sat on the seat of a car for most of the transport. The batch of failures came after mounting it on a tripod, where it sat while I power-cycled it until I was able to take this http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=3871 shot once it started working at all. I'm assuming that the primary value in reporting these problems is to say "back to the drawing board, guys" and come up with a better trigger design in a later revision. (Or recognize that the only cameras worth using on this version are Canons anyway and go with electronic triggering :-)
2008-03-21
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Replacement button pusher?
- When:
Fri Mar 21 15:39:52 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=115
- What:
- Replacement button pusher? Postby eichin on Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:01 am After a fair amount of travel and showing off the gigapan, the button that pushes shutter release has come unscrewed and disappeared. l can rig something easily enough, but do people here have suggestions for things that work particularly well? eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - "alignment aborted" and screen lock?
- When:
Fri Mar 21 15:39:14 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=113&p=626#p626
- What:
- Re: "alignment aborted" and screen lock? Postby eichin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:50 pm Thanks. That panorama did eventually align and merge correctly and I am uploading it now. eichin
2008-03-20
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Photo batching using time hints?
- When:
Thu Mar 20 18:25:44 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=114
- What:
- Photo batching using time hints? Postby eichin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:25 pm The scenario: I go out with the gigapan, mounted camera, 4G of flash... and take a number of panoramas. Later, I dismantle the setup to get at the card and load it into a computer to run the stitcher. The problem: I need to manually select from a thousand or so pictures to break them up into batches. (Setting the column size in the viewer is very helpful for this... but it's still a fair bit of work...) The possible solution: (this could be a standalone tool, or part of the viewer stage) Machine-shot panorama pictures are by default 1.7 seconds apart. Even some of the unusually experimental ones are maybe 10 seconds per shot, and this is trying to help the normal case. Just look at the image timestamps, and "cluster" images that are taken with gaps of less than 15 seconds between them, and make them pickable; with that, I could pretty easily just "add images" the full card, delete the batches that aren't the one I'm trying to handle, leaving just the current set to pick and choose from individually. I may try to prototype this with some standalone code to put "apparent sets" of images into directories from the shell, but it seems like a visual sort of thing in the end... eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Stitcher input bug with Ink(inkwell)
- When:
Thu Mar 20 18:18:11 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=112&p=621#p621
- What:
- Re: Stitcher input bug with Ink(inkwell) Postby eichin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:17 pm I failed to find one last time I looked (under 10.3) but I'll ask around. http://developer.apple.com/documentatio ... ion_3.html suggests that it really does just send keyDown events when it falls back for apps that don't know about ink (which is presumably most of them :-) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - "alignment aborted" and screen lock?
- When:
Thu Mar 20 17:14:59 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=113
- What:
- "alignment aborted" and screen lock? Postby eichin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:14 pm I was running a 200+ image stitch, 0.3.1541, locked the screen and let it run (the fan noise made it clear it was still running :-) I unlocked the screen and got an "alignment aborted" popup (with no further detail, just an OK.) Going back to select images, hitting Done, and letting it run a bit (10% maybe, enough to get the fan going again) and locking/unlocking worked fine, though. Any ideas what "alignment aborted" can actually be? (Say, a focus problem that led me to hitting return and having the cancel button trigger? if that's possible, consider this a request for an "are you sure" dialog (with the traditional default focus on "no, keep going") on the cancel button... eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Stitcher input bug with Ink(inkwell)
- When:
Thu Mar 20 17:07:02 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=112
- What:
- Stitcher input bug with Ink(inkwell) Postby 30eichin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:06 pm 10.5 (9A3115a, not 10.5.2 yet), stitcher 0.3.1541 - filling in the entry fields using Ink (ie. a wacom tablet, with osx native handwriting recognition turned on) all of the characters get turned into lower case "a". (This is not a recognition failure, it actually recognizes printing just fine in other apps, I'm assuming it's some sort of input bug...) 31eichin
2008-03-14
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Handle!
- When:
Fri Mar 14 19:41:29 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=107
- What:
- Handle! Postby eichin on Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:41 pm I've seen the thread on (quite nice, actually) backpacks with foam linings to coddle the gigapan. I just spent an afternoon dragging it around the Chicago Lakeshore, and Museum Campus, and I think what it needs is a *handle* :-) Or at least some places to attach shoulder straps. It's not actually fragile, nor is the consumer camera attached to it (especially when both are turned off.) (Shorter term, maybe some grip foam on the corners where I find myself holding it, but really it needs a handle :-) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Shooting without a tripod
- When:
Fri Mar 14 00:23:28 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=106
- What:
- Shooting without a tripod Postby eichin on Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:22 pm I use a quickrelease head to mount the gigapan on my Cullman Magic 2 collapsible tripod. The quickrelease "foot" is a 1.25 inch square block of plastic. Turns out that this is plenty to keep the gigapan stable when set directly down onto a concrete bridge railing, without scratching up the markings on the servo base [though I guess those markings are just duplicates of the ones for aligning the camera, and don't actually matter?] Given the other locations I shot today, I wouldn't take the gigapan out without a tripod in general (and it weighs less than the gigapan does anyhow :-), but it saves a step some of the time. eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Fri Mar 14 00:09:49 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=563#p563
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby eichin on Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:09 pm (and just to make it completely clear, I was *really* happy with the performance once it got unwedged; even got to tell a couple of passersby about it, while it was shooting the 292-image one, it just kept ticking along, and as far as I can tell it didn't miss a shot. It'll be next week some time before I can actually try stitching it, I only brought the EEEpc with me :-) eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Thu Mar 13 20:06:02 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=560#p560
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby eichin on Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:05 pm I've had another button pusher servo failure; turning off the unit, prying the white bar away from the wall (which is *hard*) and powering back up let me go on and shoot a 292 picture panorama (chicago skyline) and a 200 picture one (close look at buckingham fountain, in millenium park on the lakeshore), plus a few little ones, all on NiMH batteries that said "7.9V GOOD". So that's more evidence that the servo can misbehave without batteries being the problem... eichin
2008-03-13
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Alternative upload paths?
- When:
Wed Mar 12 20:14:06 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=91&p=553#p553
- What:
- Re: Alternative upload paths? Postby eichin on Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:13 pm That looks very nice, thanks! I'll poke at it while I'm off at Pycon. eichin
2008-03-12
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Tue Mar 11 22:56:05 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=542#p542
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby eichin on Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:55 pm eichin wrote: however, I'll try swapping out the brand new fresh alkalines for brand new freshly charged NiMH batteries and see if they make a difference. I did *two* things at the same time (bad diagnostician!) namely I pushed the white arm until it started out actually touching the linkage, instead of the frame, and I swapped in the NiMH batteries (reading: "7.9V GOOD".) This time I ran through a 3x5 and it actually pressed the trigger for every one! Thanks all, for the suggestions and additional information. So when we have sunlight again, I'll give it a try; looks like I'll get to take it to Chicago after all :-) eichin
2008-03-11
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Tue Mar 11 15:32:27 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=536#p536
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby 105eichin on Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:31 pm illah wrote:So the issue you describe of the pusher servo appears to spin backward happens on our gigapans too, and happens specifically when the batteries are low (and only at that time). That's the only problem I've see with 50+ gigapan units. Why this is how it fails I don't know for sure (charmed labs would have to guess). but I can guess! I bet that when voltages are low,the voltage sensing that decides when it's pushing hard on the cameras button has threshold that misbehave- that a "floor" is being violated and that the servo is sent on a negative mission. That's just a guess, mind you. We haven't seen any cause for this other than batteries heading for death (i.e. low voltage). As such, I do not have a good workaround apart from the obvious one you nailed right on, which is, fresh batteries! That's an interesting theory, but doesn't really explain it never working to begin with... however, I'll try swapping out the brand new fresh alkalines for brand new freshly charged NiMH betteries and see if they make a difference. (Given that it only works with a range of fairly small cameras anyway, I'm sort of surprised at the choice of design, something that pulls down on a lever could have a spring tensioner (and even a winder) and get free leverage, plus allow the use of cheaper/simpler servos (or even solenoids). But it looks from the other thread like there's sufficient info about the signalling to allow experiments, so maybe I'll try that later :-) 106eichin
2008-03-10
- About:
cjsmith: Lasagna
- When:
Mon Mar 10 14:41:36 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/792112.html?view=7657776#t7657776
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-03-10 06:41 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Note that in this case it was still savory - the chocolate served more like it does in a Mole' sauce. Also, "without meat or cheese ..." gives it away, linguistically: it's still a lasagne because it's defined in terms of those ingredients, if only by their absence - otherwise it's a "very wide fettucini alfredo" :-) I'm including, for example, ziti casserole in the same class of substitutions. (Had something last night called "Dessert Ravioli" - fried pastry pockets with molten chocolate and caramel inside. Served with ice cream because it would have been too sweet (!) without it. Mmmm.) Mostly what I'm getting at is that this really is a fundamental "element" of dinner-food-cooking, which is very amenable to changing any and all parameters - it's a "safe" space to explore :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
cjsmith: Lasagna
- When:
Mon Mar 10 02:06:01 2008
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/792112.html?view=7651888#t7651888
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-03-10 06:04 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully > It's going to look like pizza. You say that as if it were a *bad* thing :-) The thing with lasagne, is that it's a particular instance of a general class of "yummy things with pasta + sauce + cheese + meat". It's all refinements from there; sauces, different pastas, cheeses... for the last chocolate party, we made a fairly generic lasagne (a bunch of ground beef, ricotta, parmesan) with a normal red sauce... to which we added, mmm, 2 or 3 oz melted dark chocolate to 32 oz of red sauce, and a bunch of vietnamese cinnamon added to the chocolate. It was devoured :-) (and it was suggested that we add *more* spices next time.) (Reply to this)
2008-03-09
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Sun Mar 9 19:02:52 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=502#p502
- What:
- Re: button pusher servo running backwards? Postby 71eichin on Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:02 pm Yeah, saw those posts - fresh alkalines, battery status "good" 8.5V. (Also, to clarify, the arm does move, but in what appears to be the wrong direction (the long bit clunks up against the frame, instead of on the linkage) and does so 6 or 7 times (failing to trigger a shot each time) before giving the error. I suppose I should upload some video of it doing it :-) 72eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Sun Mar 9 18:29:16 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99&p=500#p500
- What:
- button pusher servo running backwards? Postby 30eichin on Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:47 pm Finally had some sunshine, went out to try to shoot a gigapan... it looks like the servo arm (the white bit directly connected to the motor) moves the wrong direction, it fails to move the trigger arm, and after a half dozen or so shots (panning and tilting quite successfully) I get "Button Pusher disconnected! Panorama paused"... Any obvious wire-swapping I should try? I'm hoping to take this with me on a trip this thursday, so I'd rather not round-trip it to Texas (I'm near Boston/MIT.) 31eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - button pusher servo running backwards?
- When:
Sun Mar 9 14:48:07 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=99
- What:
- button pusher servo running backwards? Postby eichin on Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:47 pm Finally had some sunshine, went out to try to shoot a gigapan... it looks like the servo arm (the white bit directly connected to the motor) moves the wrong direction, it fails to move the trigger arm, and after a half dozen or so shots (panning and tilting quite successfully) I get "Button Pusher disconnected! Panorama paused"... Any obvious wire-swapping I should try? I'm hoping to take this with me on a trip this thursday, so I'd rather not round-trip it to Texas (I'm near Boston/MIT.) eichin
2008-03-08
- About:
Flickr: Discussing How do you use getWithGeoData with dates? in Flickr API
- When:
Sat Mar 8 18:52:12 2008
- Where:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157604068126762/#comment72157604076232781
- What:
- Mark Eichin Pro User says: I've also found the date filters to not work (working from my own Python api code.) I've also found the page-by-page support to not work, once you try to scale. However, I've yet to see any comments on these long-standing problems here from anyone actually working for flickr - the yahoo group gets more attention, you might try again there. Posted a moment ago. ( 106permalink | 107edit | 108delete )
2008-03-07
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Camera choice: Canon SX100 IS vs. Panasonic Lumix TZ3?
- When:
Fri Mar 7 12:03:34 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=92&p=489#p489
- What:
- Re: Camera choice: Canon SX100 IS vs. Panasonic Lumix TZ3? Postby eichin on Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:03 pm (based on some other comments, went with the SX100, though I'll try and borrow the TZ3 for comparison shots later on.) eichin
2008-03-06
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Linux Sticher?
- When:
Thu Mar 6 01:16:41 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=75&p=483#p483
- What:
- Re: Linux Sticher? Postby 91eichin on Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:16 am Amazon S3/EC2 is another possibility (both for hosted linux crunch and hosted big panorama data, and it would let you use bittorrent to distribute the panoramas themselves if I recall correctly.) What does the code look like now? (Have you figured out a particular license for it yet?) in particular, I haven't seen anything (in the user guide or here in the forums) that explains why it's different from hugin/autopano - does having mechanically well-aligned pictures let you avoid using SIFT, or something like that? 92eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Printing Gigapans
- When:
Thu Mar 6 01:06:24 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88&p=482#p482
- What:
- Re: Printing Gigapans Postby 56eichin on Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:05 am A couple of online places used to do that - I did a panorama of my brother's wedding reception, by pivoting a Canon S200 on the top of a wine bottle at the head table (which was on a raised dais, and gave a nice view of the dance floor and surrounding tables) and then gave them a 6" x 60" print for the following Christmas. Only 0.009 gigapixel, this was 2001 after all, but it still printed quite nicely... 57eichin
2008-03-05
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Printing Gigapans
- When:
Tue Mar 4 19:19:49 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88&p=465#p465
- What:
- Re: Printing Gigapans Postby 39eichin on Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:19 pm nice - is that their "indoor banner" option? (also, that's the dimensions of a large whiteboard - out of curiosity, where do you plan to hang it?) 40eichin
2008-03-04
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - E clip for mounting screw needed
- When:
Tue Mar 4 18:31:07 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=30&p=463#p463
- What:
- Re: E clip for mounting screw needed Postby 84eichin on Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:30 pm piconut wrote: in general it's not good to have magnets around electronics Magnets almost never have any effect on electronics - drives, sure, and in this case the *motors* might be impacted by a strong enough magnet in the wrong place. But a magnet on the side of the case, or the battery door, is probably not near enough to the motors to be a problem. 85eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Alternative upload paths?
- When:
Tue Mar 4 16:38:28 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=91
- What:
- Alternative upload paths? Postby 30eichin on Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:37 pm While it makes sense to have uploading integrated into the stitcher - does the uploader actually do anything special? Or is there just an underlying http-post with ranges or something, for continuation? (The main reason I ask - I originally figured I'd have my modbook before I got my gigapan (ha ha yeah right) so the only proprietary-OS box I have is a PPC powerbook, and the stitcher/uploader apparently requires intel - not an unreasonable choice given mac support at all, of course, but that doesn't help me at all :-) but if the protocol is simple, I could just whip up a commandline tool...) 31eichin
- About:
GigaPan • View topic - Olympus SP550UZ (doesn't fit)
- When:
Tue Mar 4 16:11:59 2008
- Where:
http://forum.gigapan.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=90
- What:
- Olympus SP550UZ (doesn't fit) Postby 30eichin on Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:11 pm I tried hooking up my SP-550UZ (my daily-use camera, 18x zoom means "if I can see it, I can shoot it" :-) ) and I can't seem to make it fit. It wasn't on the latest survey, though it was on some of the earlier email - I assume that predated actually trying it? (I'll probably eventually try to come up with an adaptor, though the sane thing to do there is probably to replace the main brace and change the button-pusher to press the remote-shutter cable instead of trying to push the button on the camera, and I'll ask about alternate camera choices elsewhere - this is just to see if anyone else had tried the 550.) 31eichin
2008-02-23
- About:
recordersmith: Listening list
- When:
Sat Feb 23 03:56:41 2008
- Where:
http://recordersmith.livejournal.com/7250.html?view=35410#t35410
- What:
- CD recommendations [info]eichin 2008-02-23 08:55 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Wicked (broadway soundtrack, not particularly sophisticated but fun). (hmm, my other recent cds were a birdsong recognition disk, and Eve6, and I suspect you wouldn't be interested in either :-) (Reply to this)
2008-01-30
- About:
Bluetooth not working AT ALL on Thinkpad T61 - Page 2 - Ubuntu Forums
- When:
Tue Jan 29 23:21:52 2008
- Where:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4233829#post4233829
- What:
- eichin eichin is online now First Cup of Ubuntu Join Date: Jan 2008 Beans: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Re: Found something Quote: Originally Posted by MeanderingCode View Post run this with root privileges: Code: echo "enable"> /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth I couldn't do this simply by prefixing with sudo. I got a "permission denied" error. So i used su to become root on the command line, and it worked! I'm not sure why. If anyone knows, i'd be delighted to hear it. A common annoyance: when you run that with sudo, *your* shell tries to do the redirection, and then call sudo with that file open as standard output. This doesn't work (so it doesn't even try to run sudo, the "permission denied" is from your shell. An easy-to-remember workaround I picked up somewhere is to use "tee": Code: echo enable | sudo tee /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth (which worked for me just now - I came looking for this because I just noticed it not working, even though I don't think I needed it in Dapper - well, at least this default saves some battery life
2008-01-21
- About:
530nm330hz: Now this is tempting
- When:
Sun Jan 20 23:54:18 2008
- Where:
http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/169396.html?view=444596#t444596
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-01-21 04:53 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I adore mine - it fills the niche of "laptop for me, not for work" and I take it on photography road trips every weekend, among other use (I'm posting this from it, and most of my recent flickr uploads were captioned and posted from it.) Unlike the OLPC, the keyboard is *just* big enough for me to use comfortably... (Reply to this)
- About:
Why I purchased the Sony PRS-505 Reader » Thoughts by Ted
- When:
Sun Jan 20 21:30:51 2008
- Where:
http://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2008/01/19/why-i-purchased-the-sony-prs-505-reader/#comment-280
- What:
- _Mark_ Says: January 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pm I have one of the earlier sony’s (Librie’) but at the time, it was crash-prone, and the open source converter code was very 0.1. I should give that another try now that there are newer tools… the screen was very nice…
2008-01-12
- About:
recordersmith: Candlemaking
- When:
Fri Jan 11 23:21:47 2008
- Where:
http://recordersmith.livejournal.com/2067.html?view=16403#t16403
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-01-12 04:21 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This At the CIA, I saw a demo of a simple-to-build innoculation-tempering device, which consisted of a big metal salad bowl, a big pot, a large incandescent bulb, and a dimmer. Calibration was done by doing runs and marking the set points with a sharpie. Handled 5+ pounds of chocolate at a time, IIRC... I think they didn't end up using water at all (since you really don't want to have water around chocolate) but it seems like a similar problem, so maybe a home depot run would help :-) (Reply to this)
2008-01-03
- About:
530nm330hz: OK, so I'm a geek
- When:
Thu Jan 3 01:45:29 2008
- Where:
http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/164014.html?thread=431278#t431278
- What:
- [info]eichin 2008-01-03 06:44 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Someone on zephyr was complaining the NBC was 8 seconds behind. I just ran watch -n 0.2 date in an xterm, after making sure the laptop had good ntp sync :-) [*] credit to nelhage for suggesting "watch"; I *had* been running while true; do date; sleep 0.1; done instead :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-12-31
- About:
mild thematic elements and scary images -
- When:
Sun Dec 30 19:37:32 2007
- Where:
http://coraline.livejournal.com/835181.html?view=6155885#t6155885
- What:
- 31st-Dec-2007 12:35 am (UTC) [info]eichin Huh, interesting. Humans need better debugging interfaces :-) * reply * parent * thread * link * delete * Track This
2007-12-30
- About:
Qualified Perceptions - Weird Feature
- When:
Sat Dec 29 20:57:15 2007
- Where:
http://firstfrost.livejournal.com/124688.html?view=620560#t620560
- What:
- From: [info]eichin Date: December 30th, 2007 01:52 am (UTC) Delete Track This (Link) As I understand it, it's a microsoft-driven "sidekick" screen; they convinced/coerced some vendors into adding them, then failed to deliver on any particular *reason* to have them. (There's supposed to be some PDA-like apps for them, so you could see your schedule from outlook directly - which noone seems to want as an alternative to an *actual PDA*...) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)
- About:
mild thematic elements and scary images -
- When:
Sat Dec 29 20:37:53 2007
- Where:
http://coraline.livejournal.com/835181.html?view=6152813#t6152813
- What:
- 30th-Dec-2007 01:35 am (UTC) [info]eichin I want a ranged blood-sugar-level reader. Pocketable wand form. point, push the button, "Hey, dude, Science Says go eat something!" it would be helpful with so many of my friends. :-) * reply * thread * link * delete * Track This
2007-12-22
- About:
Macs are even more expensive than I thought (Scripting News)
- When:
Sat Dec 22 13:27:55 2007
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/12/22/macsAreEvenMoreExpensiveTh.html
- What:
- Mark Eichin —13 minutes ago with 1 point Please login to rate. Apple "care" and especially how they handle drives (namely, "any hint of other problems with the machine and it's your fault and the applecare doesn't apply") is why I didn't consider Apple when upgrading my 12" powerbook. Sad to see they haven't gotten better about it. _Mark_ reply
2007-12-18
- About:
530nm330hz: And half our children are scoring below the median on the SAT!
- When:
Tue Dec 18 02:37:58 2007
- Where:
http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/158096.html?view=415376#t415376
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-12-18 07:36 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This The question itself only samples behaviour... I put my name in to *every* new search engine :-) for someone like me, it's a test of the search engine as much as anything. (Intriguingly, a recent check of amazon book search not only found the expected references - but one example where the book included a screen shot of a web page which happenned to mention my name, "proving" that they're doing OCR for at least some books, rather than getting underlying text from the publisher...) (Reply to this)
- About:
jered: I won a Chumby!
- When:
Sun Dec 16 03:41:10 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/45440.html?thread=235904#t235904
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-12-16 08:00 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This It might be worth looking at gnash first, in order to find open source flash ecosystem bits - the version of gnash in debian etch actually runs as much flash as the chumby does (no relation, just that Flash Lite is only flash 6, and gnash didn't get past 6 until later.) So far my only chumby hacks have involved setting up cron jobs, though (unlike, for example, the FIC1973) I've found the out-of-the-box functionality quite useful. (Reply to this)
2007-12-11
- About:
Break That Warranty Sticker: ASUS Says It’s OK! < EeeUser.com
- When:
Tue Dec 11 02:31:23 2007
- Where:
http://www.eeeuser.com/2007/12/09/break-that-warranty-sticker-asus-says-its-ok/#comment-17380
- What:
- # _Mark_ wrote: So, anyone got a handy part number/description for the appropriate 1G upgrade? (preferably a newegg link :-) I can only run one of kphotoalbum, firefox, or akregator at a time with 512M, now that I have “real” data loaded up instead of just tests, so it’s time… Monday, December 10, 2007 at 2:47 am #
2007-12-03
- About:
Jesse - eichin, on the acquisition of LJ by SUP
- When:
Mon Dec 3 03:01:06 2007
- Where:
http://obra.livejournal.com/91443.html
- What:
- I think this makes a wonderful privacy-cautionary-tale example. 'Suppose your diary...was *bought* by the KGB?' --[info]eichin
2007-12-02
- About:
cjsmith: Kindle
- When:
Sat Dec 1 19:29:18 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/766317.html?view=7217773#t7217773
- What:
- [info]119eichin 2007-12-02 12:27 am UTC (120link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully actually the reason the older sony eink readers had keyboards *was* for highlighting, or at least bookmark-notes. (They also had "print to eink" - the reader couldn't handle anything particularly advanced, but there was a print driver that would cook anything you could print down to ebook format. windows-only, which was funny because the box itself was a somewhat-hackable linux box...) (The kindle, on the other hand, has a keyboard so that you can shop for more books over the built-in amazon-funded EVDO connection... really, market-wise it's a direct port of the iPod model, to books, except for the "rip your existing collection" part :-) As for free stuff, as I understand it Amazon does have a free service to convert a document, send you back the converted form, and let you upload it via USB. They also have a for-pay service where you send them a document and they convert it and send it over-the-air to your kindle directly; similarly you can get some online sources that way (probably how the NYTimes got on there.) There are also people already selling converted Gutenberg books for $1 or so, because there's always a market... Early adopter type that I am, the kindle doesn't interest me, not so much because of the DRM, but because I can't sanely feed it my existing library :-) However, I'm likely to get one for my mom, simply because she reads a lot the sort of pop/mass market books that amazon will *have* for this... and because she doesn't have to buy (rarely available) "large print" editions, she can just crank up the font size. (It also looks like they don't have any cookbooks for it yet :-) (123Reply to this)(124Parent)
2007-11-30
- About:
rfrench: Okay, this is kind of...
- When:
Fri Nov 30 01:36:08 2007
- Where:
http://rfrench.livejournal.com/166519.html?view=986743#t986743
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-30 06:08 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This My understanding is they do bulk not-so-good software recognition and then cheap-human cleanup (plus you can go in and tweak recognition yourself, but that requires having the "replay message from website" bit actually work, which I never managed.) ISTR it came up because people questioned the privacy issues and the response was that they used similar standards to those used for medical transcription... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
- About:
cjsmith: Spam finally killed me
- When:
Fri Nov 30 01:34:28 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/765495.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-30 04:38 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I'll second that - mail at thok had gotten useless so I outsourced it to fastmail.fm, and it's useful again. (I also use gmail, but only for things like public mailing lists where the ads they come up with are actively interesting... but wow have they done a good job with spam, mostly by harnessing their own users :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
rfrench: Okay, this is kind of...
- When:
Fri Nov 30 01:32:45 2007
- Where:
http://rfrench.livejournal.com/166519.html?view=985719#t985719
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-30 04:21 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I used it from my cellphone for a couple of weeks, and concluded that it "wasn't really there yet" as far as voice recognition goes, even with their apparently-human-assisted transcription. (I suppose without real-time readback from text, *nothing* is ever going to really cut it...) (Reply to this)(Thread)
- About:
rfrench: Roooomba
- When:
Fri Nov 30 01:31:25 2007
- Where:
http://rfrench.livejournal.com/165384.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-30 04:27 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Get a Kill-a-watt (cheap but reasonably built plug-in ammeter/cumulative watt-meter) if you're starting to care about detail-level power use; things like the idle power consumption of that TV might be more of an issue, but if you don't have to guess... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
- About:
Wifi at BDL
- When:
Fri Nov 30 01:25:24 2007
- Where:
http://norman.walsh.name/2004/11/08/bdlWifi
- What:
- I was at BDL picking up a friend last night... there was solid coverage in terminal A, little signs, and the web page mentions it. What they didn't have was *routing*. I found a couple of access points with login pages, but they didn't seem to have proxies set up or anything (and if I can't ssh out, "it's not net"...) I do like BDL and MHT, they're big enough to be real but small enough to not feel industrial, and they seem to have *much* more polite security people than Boston ever does. It just would have been nice if the wifi had actually worked. It was late enough that there wasn't really anyone around to complain to, though that also meant there weren't really any other potential users either... Posted by Mark Eichin on 24 Nov 2007 @ 11:57p UTC [link]
2007-11-22
- About:
james_nicoll: Please explain
- When:
Thu Nov 22 02:01:26 2007
- Where:
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1071748.html?page=2#comments
- What:
- Not for Us, but... [info]eichin 2007-11-22 07:00 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Someone who buys a lot of pop fiction, and likes the idea of (1) saving shelf space (2) not having to buy "large print" editions, and buys most material from amazon anyway, would find it quite attractive. (I have at least one specific person in mind.) It's very much not a universal product, and also has some anti-appeal to the usual early-adopter types, but perhaps they will get away with skipping that audience... (A friend points out that there are no cookbooks available for it yet either.) (Reply to this)
2007-11-20
- About:
530nm330hz: Image resizing
- When:
Tue Nov 20 01:17:45 2007
- Where:
http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/146592.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-20 06:15 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This There's already a GIMP plugin (Adobe hired the guy who came up with it away from Mitsubishi labs, too, so everyone's expecting it to show up in photoshop...) (Reply to this)
2007-11-19
- About:
cjsmith: Twelve lunches
- When:
Sun Nov 18 23:06:01 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/759270.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-19 04:00 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully And that (people being human to each other) doesn't make the news. Sad really. (Reply to this)(Parent
- About:
Bug #21993 in gnome-cups-manager (Ubuntu): “When Print-server not found on network, cups-manager crashes”
- When:
Sun Nov 18 19:35:08 2007
- Where:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-cups-manager/+bug/21993
- What:
- Mark Eichin wrote 4 seconds ago: (permalink) I see the problem in a new install of 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon as well - ServerName points to a printserver at work, I'm at home, I try to print, and it hangs (completely, no X updates at all) for a long time (more than 5 minutes) but then comes up with a print dialog that only lists postscript/default [which is fine, it's the delay that's the problem...] lsof shows the IPP connection in SYN_SENT (ie. it's not getting connection refused, it's getting nothing at all, as in a down machine or firewall. A misconfigured client.conf could probably do that too...) After printing to file it appears that it is trying to contact the server again, leading to a similar hang.
2007-11-16
- About:
james_nicoll: The very best of British security
- When:
Fri Nov 16 00:41:27 2007
- Where:
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1066010.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-16 05:40 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Or a bic pen. (the empty plastic cylinder, and something to bang with.) Granted, this only become *common* knowledge in the last couple of years - it's really just a reminder that mechanical security "falls" over time just like computer security does... (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-11-12
- About:
Flickr: Discussing "Filesize was zero" problem in Flickr API
- When:
Mon Nov 12 02:25:41 2007
- Where:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157603065250905/#comment72157603102868514
- What:
- view photos Mark Eichin Pro User says: When I did my python uploader, I noticed that flickr's mime parser was a lot pickier than the rfcs might lead you to expect. In particular, I needed to explicitly give a content-type in each section (and it needed to be correct for photo, ie. image/jpeg, though text/plain was fine for the others.) (A bigger problem was that it *had* to have a filename= entry, but you've *got* that...) Of course, this doesn't explain it having worked before and not now. Also, I POST to www.flickr.com, not api.flickr.com, don't know if that matters... www.flickr.com/services/api/upload.example.html has some raw output of an example that I found useful at the time. (Also: would love to get ahold of your elisp code; my python code is at www.thok.org/intranet/python/exif/index.html and the flickr_post.py there in particular.) Posted a moment ago. ( permalink | edit | delete )
- About:
cjsmith: Happy twenty years
- When:
Mon Nov 12 01:27:15 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/753729.html?view=7083073#t7083073
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-12 06:26 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Comment Posted Successfully Congratulations, and Happy Anniversary! (from someone else in that backrub chain :-) (Reply to this)
- About:
Something broke in FlickrLand? (Scripting News)
- When:
Mon Nov 12 01:18:15 2007
- Where:
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/11/09/somethingBrokeInFlickrland.html
- What:
- _Mark_ —1 hour ago with 1 point Please login to rate. I happenned to see this in the flickr group about the API - apparently the old API leaked "original" pictures, and the change was the way they fixed that; you get an additional token if you have permission to see the original pictures. reply
2007-11-05
- About:
so glad to finally be failing - a new photo project
- When:
Sun Nov 4 22:50:30 2007
- Where:
http://crs.livejournal.com/429095.html?view=1135143#t1135143
- What:
- [info]eichin wrote: Nov. 2nd, 2007 02:05 am (UTC) instead of a bulky monopod that you're stuck with for the rest of the day, consider * one of those accordian-fold rulers * a chunk of string with a weight ("a rock to wind a string around" :-) to just hang from the camera, much easier to pocket... Link | Reply | Delete | Track This
- About:
yakshaver: my little (mail-filtering) pony...
- When:
Sun Nov 4 22:49:35 2007
- Where:
http://yakshaver.livejournal.com/85537.html?view=191265#t191265
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-02 07:47 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This sounds like you could just use python's imaplib... there's a hack (in the top level of my athena homedir, I think) to get imaplib to run imtest underneath so you can trivially do the authentication needed for MIT's mailstore specifically... (Reply to this)
- About:
cjsmith: That interests thingy
- When:
Sun Nov 4 22:48:39 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/751411.html?view=7027251#t7027251
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-11-02 07:38 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Pretty sure John Pitrelli successfully reverse engineered it; I haven't been in touch at all in ages, but he's on linkedin at least... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
- About:
studiofoglio: Yes, yes, as you may well have noticed,
- When:
Sun Nov 4 22:47:51 2007
- Where:
http://studiofoglio.livejournal.com/11016.html?view=83464#t83464
- What:
- Buck... in color?! [info]eichin 2007-11-03 06:32 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I was excited when the Gallimaufry came out again, a few years ago, so I could finally get my own set (having merely read friends copies the first time around.) I was really excited when the story finished... I thought it was really cool when Buck Godot started running on the web site, so I could (1) add it to my daily online reading (2) point friends at it... And then the Gallimaufry started up. Color covers, sure... but I figured it would go back to black and white. And it *didn't*. As someone who once considered going as far as to get a second full set just to color them, even badly... wow! and yay! I take it this means that a color print edition is on the way? How soon? Or is the color web-only? (Reply to this)(Thread)
- About:
Flickr: Discussing Machine tags in Flickr API
- When:
Sun Nov 4 22:46:45 2007
- Where:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157594497877875/#comment72157602889612704
- What:
- Mark Eichin Pro User says: (stale, but since it's still open) The key is disambiguation - humans are good at it, machines aren't. In your example, "dlh" by itself, is pretty likely to be an airport, but the one near me is BED - if I'm looking for pictures of hanscom field (BEDford, MA) I will *never* find them with a search for bed. aero:airport=bed, though, is pretty clear. Not everything is susceptible to that kind of clarification - but baby steps, going after the things that *are*, is still worthwhile :-) Posted 3 days ago. ( permalink | edit | delete )
2007-10-22
- About:
yakshaver: Day of stuff sucking
- When:
Sun Oct 21 22:59:19 2007
- Where:
http://yakshaver.livejournal.com/84333.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-22 02:31 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This if the point&shoot is an olympus, I learned first-hand that they've got decent out-of-warrantee service via their facility in New Jersey; worth getting a quote, though there's bound to be a newer model of whatever it is by now :-) The old canon's are kind of fragile that way but there are a couple of repairable bits there too... (Reply to this)(Thread)
- About:
jered: I know this is tragic but...
- When:
Sun Oct 21 22:24:38 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/44435.html
- What:
- [info]190eichin 2007-10-22 02:24 am UTC (191link) DeleteTrack This Insert conspiracy theory here (for example, monkeys are notably easy to *train*, right?) (194Reply to this)
2007-10-14
- About:
james_nicoll: Will [Name of Probe] cause [Name of Gas Giant] to Turn into a Star!!!!!????
- When:
Sat Oct 13 23:41:03 2007
- Where:
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1019176.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-14 03:32 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I was going to ask "if SL-9 didn't do it, why would people think some spindly pile of electronics could" but I forgot about the magic word... (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
yakshaver: Blogging by candlelight
- When:
Sat Oct 13 22:32:42 2007
- Where:
http://yakshaver.livejournal.com/82352.html?view=177584#t177584
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-14 02:24 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This It appeared (from watching the power outages and work during the construction of the condos in the old plastic-picture-frame-factory building near Davis) that Somerville had layers of power distribution, based on how different areas got denser over time and needed more power brought in. I suspect that explains the distribution of outage, at least somewhat. Also: I picked up "utility drawer in the kitchen" as concept, and a place for candles, from my mom too :-) Though mostly I have LED flashlights around, there's a big fat slow-burning candle in there (from a hardware store)... (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-10-10
- About:
cjsmith: Human oddities
- When:
Wed Oct 10 00:16:47 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/744088.html?view=6938008#t6938008
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-10 03:46 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Oh god, aqua net was such amazingly wretched stuff. Just thinking about it is making my eyes water, and it's been at least twenty years... the web thinks it is still on the market, I'd assumed it went away with a lot of the other toxic aerosols in the early 90s. (It brings back childhood memories, too. But not *good* ones.) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-10-05
- About:
jered: OLPC
- When:
Fri Oct 5 16:48:00 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/43539.html?view=230419#t230419
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-05 08:47 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This > So you've used it? What do you think of it, in general? I think the 2.0 will be interesting :-) I think the overall effort is a good inspiration to get people thinking about how little hardware you actually need to do something useful and not bloated. I also think it needs rather more software work to not feel underpowered - moore's law has made software, and most programmers, fat-and-lazy, and now there's a reason not to be - but that work is still underway. (Think of how much "waste" there is in something like google maps, on the client side - because making it easy is hugely valuable, and there's vast amounts of excess computing power available to the end user. Now think about how you'd do an app like that to actually perform on an XO...) It's a solid chunk of hardware; it brings to mind the eMate. The mesh networking is also interesting in a subversive (rather than practical) sort of way. As for charging, there are solar charging stations at some schools, but no builtin human powered chargers; they appear to not actually be aiming that low (any more) in terms of target environment... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
- About:
jered: OLPC
- When:
Fri Oct 5 16:26:23 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/43539.html?view=230163#t230163
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-05 08:25 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This bitfrost is novel, sure - but I didn't think it actually worked yet :-) ALT-F3 gets me a login prompt and a root shell where I can wander around a completely normal linux box, in the last developer rev I saw, though I don't know how much of that gets locked down in what they're actually shipping. (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
Qualified Perceptions - Two Points of Betrayal
- When:
Fri Oct 5 01:26:00 2007
- Where:
http://firstfrost.livejournal.com/118064.html
- What:
- Thread started by _Mark_ eichin From: [info]eichin Date: October 5th, 2007 05:25 am (UTC) Delete Track This (Link) Also DD's iced tea "plain" seems to have meant "only sugar syrup and lemon" often enough that I have learned to be very clear about *unsweetened*, and watch them make it. (Worse, though, is discovering on a just-before-closing wendy's drivethrough run that through a remote microphone, "ice tea" and "Hi-C" are confusable...) (Reply to this) (Thread)
- About:
jered: OLPC
- When:
Fri Oct 5 00:59:48 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/43539.html?view=228371#t228371
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-05 04:59 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Except for the not actually having a handcrank part. squidlabs did a pullcord-charger but that hasn't made it past prototype stage yet. Also, if you have average sized adult hands, and can comfortably use a normal PC keyboard... this is probably not what you're looking for - see http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=olpc&w=35034350551%40N01 and especially http://www.flickr.com/photos/eichin/1157269845/ for an idea of just how *tiny* that keyboard is... yes, that's a normal US dollar bill... That said it is solid, and an interesting thing to have designed... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
- About:
jered: OLPC
- When:
Fri Oct 5 00:59:40 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/43539.html?view=228371#t228371
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-05 04:53 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This umm, linux isn't that weird :-) Sugar is a UI layer, and you can install it on a normal machine easily enough... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
2007-10-03
- About:
jered: Feedback on your candidate
- When:
Tue Oct 2 22:35:00 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/43280.html?view=226576#t226576
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-10-03 02:30 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This It's sometimes useful to get a copy of the resume from the candidate themselves, if they get that far, just to see how it compares to what the recruiter sent you :-) That said, we get names up front, and we spend time with the recruiter up front making sure they "get" what we're looking for (but we only work with one to three engineering recruiters at a time...) (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
2007-10-02
- About:
brad's life - Seam Carving
- When:
Tue Oct 2 01:04:33 2007
- Where:
http://brad.livejournal.com/2342446.html?view=14110510#t14110510
- What:
- [User Picture] From: [info]eichin 2007-10-02 05:03 am (UTC) and there's already a GIMP plugin... Delete Track This (Link) http://liquidrescale.wikidot.com/ (haven't tried it myself.) (Reply to this)
2007-09-25
- About:
cjsmith: Driving
- When:
Tue Sep 25 00:23:16 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/739384.html?view=6838840#t6838840
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-09-25 04:22 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This My take on it is that Rules are mainly helpful for making traffic flow efficiently, but if you're in enough congestion for that to matter, you'd better be in Look mode. Maybe that's just from driving in Boston; the Rules seem to mostly be a staring point relative to which people cheat. But it goes the other way too; some pointlessly friendly driver yielded to me at the BU bridge rotary a few weeks back... from the inner orbit of a two lane rotary, when I was coming in from Mem Drive, and there wasn't anything I could do but hope the driver figured it out before being overtaken by other traffic :-} (Reply to this)(Thread)
2007-09-10
- About:
530nm330hz: NYT confirms: Boston is the Hub of the Universe
- When:
Sun Sep 9 23:12:57 2007
- Where:
http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/120930.html?view=330338#t330338
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-09-10 01:03 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This unless they did an *entirely* different cover, the "making the cover" article on that page makes it pretty clear that this design was all the (MIT Media Lab) designer had time for... (Reply to this)(Thread)
2007-08-25
- About:
Qualified Perceptions - Moral, er, Aesthetic Dilemma
- When:
Sat Aug 25 00:38:09 2007
- Where:
http://firstfrost.livejournal.com/115520.html
- What:
- eichin From: [info]eichin Date: August 25th, 2007 04:37 am (UTC) Delete Track This (Link) Delicious Library is *very* pretty, though it wasn't until I stopped Mac'ing that I found out how to use it to keep track of *where* books were (I don't remember, I just have some notes somewhere, sorry...) but in the end it pleased me that it was easy to move everything into LibraryThing.com (where "everything" is still woefully incomplete, I should finish collecting...) (Reply to this)
2007-08-22
- About:
Ted Tso - Thoughts about the Palm Foleo
- When:
Wed Aug 22 01:19:49 2007
- Where:
http://tytso.livejournal.com/30229.html?view=107029#t107029
- What:
- _Mark_[info]eichin on August 22nd, 2007 05:19 am (UTC) There seems to be a niche for the Foleo among people who have an IT-managed Treo now, and want something more, but still have restricted enough use cases (and limited enough computer skills) that IT doesn't want them to have a windows laptop that they'll need deloused once a month, and can be replaced with no effort. That could easily be a successful niche, but it's inherently not a blogger/early-adopter space :-) I just don't see the market among people who actually find laptops useful in the first place... this could change if it actually pushed the envelope far enough in some direction; for example, if it had 9 hours battery life, it could open up the niche of "charge it overnight with my phone; don't carry anything else during the day" - this is of course very non-linear, and 5 hours is a lot less than half way there. (Likewise it's not really 2.5lbs vs. 2.7lbs; it's 2.5lbs + brick + cord vs. 2.7lbs + brick + cord :-) I do have one potential personal use for one of these, but would probably have to write all the software from scratch - "flickr console" :-) I've tried to implement this with an old Archos and a foldable keyboard and made *some* progress - the concept is simple: the only time I don't want a laptop around is when I *don't want to do actual work* and that's every weekend when I'm off somewhere with my camera. After half a day of shooting, I have a gig of pictures and want to back them up (classic image tank... *or* foleo with cheap ($100) 8G CF card or two) and upload the best 10 at the next coffeeshop (needs a "real" screen for preview [archos, pda, imagetank all fail at this] and a "real" keyboard for captioning [archos and foleo only real options for this].) (Does *not* need photoshop; my personal version of this hobby involves taking pictures, not manipulating bits.) 5hr battery *might* suffice for this but it doesn't *sound* convincing which is more important than it should be) but maybe electrovaya will have an aesthetically well-matched battery slab someday... and still, it's an application mostly of interested to portability-obsessed dilettante nature photographers; the "more serious" will stick with the laptop, the "less serious" will wait until they get home :-) (Reply) (Parent) (Thread) (Link)
2007-08-18
- About:
james_nicoll: Memory jog
- When:
Sat Aug 18 00:47:22 2007
- Where:
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/948125.html?view=13476253#t13476253
- What:
- stranger versions [info]eichin 2007-08-18 04:47 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This Perhaps you'd find the Puppini Sisters version more accessible? Still somewhat high voices, but not screechy... (Reply to this)
2007-08-17
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Fri Aug 17 18:55:31 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?thread=3544675#t3544675
- What:
- Fri, Aug. 17th, 2007 10:53 pm (UTC) [info]eichin Another one (the big names are chiming in today...) http://bradfitz.com/social-graph-problem/ Link Parent - Delete - Track This - Reply
2007-08-16
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Thu Aug 16 03:11:43 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?thread=3543907#t3543907
- What:
- Thu, Aug. 16th, 2007 07:09 am (UTC) [info]eichin (this is not as edited as it should be, and probably has more aggressive a tone than the material deserves, and I apologize for that, but only weakly because I'm posting it anyway :-) > There was no business reason to write a Unixoid OS and give it away for free Sure there was. BSD came from academic funding, linux came from scandinavian socialism, gcc came from religious fervor but really *launched* when there was money behind it; X11 came more from cleverly *subverting* the moneyed interests while still getting them to drive it... for a more modern example, django came out of a real (but enlightened) newspaper that freed it later... Just because it *looks* like there was no business reason, doesn't mean they weren't there - it's just that the "initial spark" story usually plays better than the growth-and-maintenance one. Also, note that the "business case" comments aren't predicting - we're observing. Social networking apps are easier to get off the ground as singleton efforts now simply because there's such a huge pile of free software and cheap infrastructure to build them on - but you rarely get *two* people to work on something like this without common incentive - and really, "hey, he's figured out how to make money off of this" is a surprisingly effective lure from the "I'll just do my own, that's more fun anyway" side of the fence to the "I'll pitch in on that one over there" side... and this is something that needs a broad enough range of skills to pull off that a single person version is likely to just fail. (After all, the basic technical parts have been available for what, two years now, including LJ actually supporting openid?) The fact that the conditions have been ripe, and that the idea has been much talked about, and it hasn't happened yet, makes the business case example at least something to look at seriously - or to propose an alternative to :-) "programmers wanting such things" hasn't worked *yet* for this particular one, right? Link Parent - Delete - Track This - Reply
- About:
brad's life - Python
- When:
Thu Aug 16 00:36:44 2007
- Where:
http://brad.livejournal.com/2337185.html?view=14002593#t14002593
- What:
- [User Picture] From: [info]eichin 2007-08-16 04:36 am (UTC) Text Processing in Python Delete Track This (Link) Back when I first ported myself from perl to python, Text Processing in Python seemed to help get my head out of regexp-space, in particular (I'd still start with diveintopython, and still use that on new employees, because it's aimed at people who are already programmers, just not of python.) A quick glance makes me think it's not particularly outdated, at least in that area. (Reply to this)
2007-08-15
- About:
xkcd » Blog Archive » Mirrorboard: A one-handed keyboard layout for the lazy
- When:
Wed Aug 15 01:37:02 2007
- Where:
http://blag.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/#comment-8152
- What:
- _Mark_ Says: August 15th, 2007 at 1:36 am A few people have questioned the problem of moving between keyboard and mouse. It turns out that not only is that motion a *major* efficiency hit, in one of the few large scale analyses of workplace injury among keyboard users, the one factor that related best to injury was mixed mouse-and-keyboard use (as opposed to just keyboard use by itself.) I don’t have the citation handy, but it’s in Raskin’s “The Humane Interface” and I did find it upstream at the time (it was done using an office worker’s union as a dataset, as I recall.) So yes, fixing the problem of *switching* from mouse to keyboard and back is worth a lot of hassle. (The Mattias keyboard had a great introductory manual, it got you started with some left-only words, then some right only ones, then alternating words, then alternating letters - it felt like a *very* efficient way to get your reflexes to kick in. The main problem I had is that while “my hands know where the letters are”, they’re not nearly so good about punctuation, and even though I’ve mostly gotten perl out of my life there’s still a lot of punctuation in code :-)
- About:
jered: SMS divert when unreachable?
- When:
Wed Aug 15 01:17:51 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/41942.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-08-15 05:13 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This you could contact spinvox and see if they want to treat it as an experiment :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-08-11
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Sat Aug 11 18:11:03 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?view=3527267#t3527267
- What:
- Sat, Aug. 11th, 2007 10:10 pm (UTC) [info]eichin As he points out at the end of the post - it's hard to monetize :-) It's user-interface heavy *and* pure-open-source which is a difficult corner to be in, unless there's enough motivation/pressure (LJ existing and being "good enough" has certainly kept my attention off the problem) it's going to be hard to get anywhere on it. Still, there's enough talk about it in enough places that actually doing something could get enough attention... Link Parent - Delete - Track This - Reply
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Sat Aug 11 13:17:51 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?view=3526243#t3526243
- What:
- Sat, Aug. 11th, 2007 05:17 pm (UTC) [info]eichin Other people are talking about Decentralized Social Networking now too... Link Parent - Thread - Delete - Track This - Reply
2007-08-09
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Thu Aug 9 00:31:26 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?view=3519587#t3519587
- What:
- Thu, Aug. 9th, 2007 04:15 am (UTC) [info]eichin There's a bunch of history for that kind of thing; most of it degenerated into fights about the power the ping-multiplexers got (especially when they got expensive to run and looked for funding and such...) It's been suggested that this is something Jabber/XMPP is suited for, but you still need servers for that (on the other hand, LJ includes a jabber server, so LJdist could too, and might actually be the right way to express that.) Thinking through the overhead involved... doing GET-based pings probably ends up cheaper :-) Also, it turns out that with proper use of ETAG/If-Modified-Since, rss-polling isn't *that* expensive (though it will be more expensive than what singleton-LJ does now which is purely internal.) Link Parent - Delete - Track This - Reply
2007-08-08
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Wed Aug 8 01:56:43 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html?view=3515747#t3515747
- What:
- Wed, Aug. 8th, 2007 05:56 am (UTC) [info]eichin I think the main reason LJ *has* a network effect (people come here because their friends already are) is the identity part, being able to get comments from "real people" instead of "the scum of the net". Being cheap-and-easy helps too - but I wouldn't be an LJ user at all if a friend of mine hadn't gone "friends-only" before the OpenID support existed. I've already got a half dozen other blogs, most of which had more features to start with. Once I was here, actually posting was as much laziness as anything :-) If that's not a unique point of view, it suggests that you can separate out "port my journal content elsewhere" from "identify myself to LJ to comment here", and from "having LJ people identify themselves to my site." The friends-page itself is just a featureless feed-aggregator from that perspective. If you can separate the concerns like that, you can more likely find resources to work on the piecewise - the overlap of people who "get" authentication with the people who actually like "users" has always been small and if you start out needing a volunteer who is comfortable in both camps you're in trouble :-) Link Thread - Delete - Track This - Reply
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [tech, lj] Distributing LJ
- When:
Wed Aug 8 01:39:38 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/504163.html
- What:
- Wed, Aug. 8th, 2007 05:38 am (UTC) [info]eichin re openid and kerberos: not really. OpenID only *carries* authentication from one site to another; Kerberos actually performs it. (Given that IE and Firefox (and maybe safari?) can do kerberized (GSSAPI) HTTP against mod_auth_krb, now, you could use kerberos to authenticate to your OpenID "provider", if you had your own...) Link Parent - Delete - Track This - Reply
2007-08-02
- About:
cjsmith: Becoming a veterinarian?
- When:
Thu Aug 2 00:01:01 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/732603.html
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-08-02 03:58 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I haven't seen her chime in here yet, but have you talked to ambar? she was taking lots of bio and what I thought were pre-vet courses, and I thought it was for more than just understanding what makes the horses tick :-) (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
2007-07-30
- About:
cjsmith: Boise
- When:
Mon Jul 30 02:22:39 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/731351.html?view=6678999#t6678999
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-30 06:22 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This A couple of my MIT friends have ended up in ABQ via differing paths, you may at least find it interesting. Unexpected downside: no outdoor housecats, due to predators... Is Lawrence KS on your list? Apparently one of the larger pagan communities in the midwest, plus it's "locally high-tech" - they had cable internet about the same time *Cambridge* did - ljworld.com is one of the newspapers, if you want to poke around a bit... (Reply to this)(Thread)
- About:
cjsmith: Notes to Self
- When:
Sun Jul 29 20:25:24 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/731099.html?view=6672347#t6672347
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-30 12:25 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This typically the drain from the washer goes out through the disposal - so if there's stuff in there, it's more likely to reduce the outflow and back up into the sink itself, and if any of the stuff floats, "ick". Running the disposal at least chops everything up so it'll go out the drain with the water... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
2007-07-29
- About:
Scripting News for 7/28/07 « Scripting News Annex
- When:
Sat Jul 28 21:39:03 2007
- Where:
http://scripting.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/scripting-news-for-72807/#comment-94713
- What:
- Mark Eichin Says: July 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pm re: names: I originally found Scripting News because I was looking for info about AppleScript… didn’t find any, but stuck around because RSS looked kind of interesting :-)
2007-07-25
- About:
365 Main datacenter power outage - Six Apart Technorati Craigslist
- When:
Wed Jul 25 01:03:59 2007
- Where:
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/07/365_main_datace.html
- What:
- Mark Eichin [07.24.07 10:01 PM] re openid: I would have been impacted by it, but I only use it for doxory.com which is of even lower importance than livejournal :-) and I'd already seen Jesse V. complain that it was out (it's working fine as of this posting.)
2007-07-22
- About:
Kill-A-Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor Review Comments - The Gadgeteer Bulletin Board
- When:
Sun Jul 22 00:01:10 2007
- Where:
http://forums.the-gadgeteer.com/vbbs/showthread.php?p=20145&posted=1#post20145
- What:
- Old 07-22-2007 eichin eichin is offline Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Concord, MA Posts: 38 Re: Kill-A-Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor Review Comments I've had an earlier model for a while... for the non-electrically-savvy user, I would suggest that the other thing worth understanding is the Amps reading - that's the "unit" that fuses and circuit breakers are in, so if you watch the refrigerator during a compression cycle, and the microwave on 100%, and add up the values, you can see why they might blow a 15A circuit breaker if they both come on at the same time :-) It's also useful for detecting devices that have "instant on" circuits, like some televisions, where they still draw a lot of power when "turned off" but still plugged in. (Hmm, they were supposed to come out with a serial-port version so you could record and graph usage, but I don't see it on the P3 site.) __________________ _Mark_
2007-07-21
- About:
jered: Hacker Barbie says, "Battery charging is hard..."
- When:
Sat Jul 21 18:40:12 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/41207.html?view=217847#t217847
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-21 10:39 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This See also the pre-cooked RooTooth if you want to move the brain to the far side of the bluetooth connection. (What's mostly keeping me stalled on doing more with these is needing to come up with an arm and a vision system :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
jered: Hacker Barbie says, "Battery charging is hard..."
- When:
Sat Jul 21 18:40:00 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/41207.html?view=217847#t217847
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-21 10:35 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I'm not 100% sure, but I thought the "ignore the wheel count sensors because they're dusty" feature was only in the osmo firmware. Then again, if they haven't failed (the "dances backwards" mode) you don't *need* them, and if you're doing most of the work with the NSLU2 already, likewise you've already got enough support... (Reply to this)(Parent)
- About:
jered: Hacker Barbie says, "Battery charging is hard..."
- When:
Fri Jul 20 23:37:08 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/41207.html?view=215799#t215799
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-21 03:36 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This You don't really need the iCreate for that - the other thing the osmo updater enables is the "control the roomba by the serial port" feature, so you can pop an old pda or wrt54 or something on the top to be the Real Brain... the Create has a "real processor and sensors" pack which is great for building stuff onto a mobility platform, but it really does have *no* features beyond "bump into things" as-is (and I'm not sure there's enough CPU to do camera stuff, it's a low end Atmel.) (the firmware update also fixes some of the sensor failure modes of the roomba by making it less picky about some of the weaker sensors, like wheel count.) (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
2007-07-19
- About:
mild thematic elements and scary images - two webcomics, and a gratuitous video
- When:
Thu Jul 19 02:59:37 2007
- Where:
http://coraline.livejournal.com/762951.html
- What:
- 19th-Jul-2007 06:26 am (UTC) - wuthering heights [info]eichin You've seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cHfzmi5Ic Puppini Sisters version (via [info]ambar) for an additional layer of surrealism? * reply * thread * link * delete * Track This
2007-07-17
- About:
Sibylla Bostoniensis - [domesticity] Where can I find...
- When:
Tue Jul 17 01:55:22 2007
- Where:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/498958.html
- What:
- Tue, Jul. 17th, 2007 05:32 am (UTC) [info]eichin I'd stop by The Container Store (locally there's one in Framingham and one closer in on rt 9) - they have a pretty wide range of, well, containers :-) I've found them useful, if a little pricy (not excessively so, though.) There are probably craft supply places closer in (like Pearl) that are worth checking first. But Container Store pretty much has nigh-all of the "generic plastic boxes" as well as a bunch of more clever stuff... Link Delete - Track This - Reply
2007-07-15
- About:
mi Jam Guitar and Mini Mixer Review Comments - The Gadgeteer Bulletin Board
- When:
Sat Jul 14 23:32:44 2007
- Where:
http://forums.the-gadgeteer.com/vbbs/showthread.php?p=19997&posted=1#post19997
- What:
- 07-14-2007 eichin eichin is offline Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Concord, MA Posts: 38 Re: mi Jam Guitar and Mini Mixer Review Comments The "guitar" sounds like something classic Devo would play (and I mean that in a good way :-) __________________ _Mark_
- About:
james_nicoll: Thinking out loud: cheap space flight
- When:
Sat Jul 14 20:34:44 2007
- Where:
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/906594.html?view=12740962#t12740962
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-15 12:34 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I don't know about bigger single comsats (one of the reasons the Carter administration didn't kill the shuttle was that it was supposed to be the only thing big enough to launch nuclear disarmament treaty verification satellites, but the prohibition on using the shuttle for commercial satellites didn't seem to be a problem for that industry) but isn't it difficult to use a single large launcher to put multiple comsats into appropriately distinct orbits? (Then again, it looks like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEREO were launched on a single rocket...) (Reply to this)(Parent)
2007-07-14
- About:
cjsmith: You know you're too busy when
- When:
Fri Jul 13 22:15:44 2007
- Where:
http://cjsmith.livejournal.com/728563.html?view=6642931#t6642931
- What:
- [info]eichin 2007-07-14 02:15 am UTC (link) DeleteTrack This I didn't do much for mine, but my mom hunted down my office address and sent shiny balloons and some very chocolatey brownie-cakes, so the people around me didn't miss out just because I wasn't bothering :-) (Reply to this)(Thread)
2007-07-11
- About:
Talk | LibraryThing
- When:
Tue Jul 10 23:20:42 2007
- Where:
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?newpost=1&topic=15658#lastmsg
- What:
- Jul 10, 2007, 11:19pm (top)Message 115: eichin Show Affinity Beautiful Code (a collection of essays on things that many notable programmers are themselves impressed by.) One of the few *positive* works in the field - usually programmers look at other people's code because it's broken, which gives one a (not necessarily inaccurate) dismal view of the field from inside. Plus I can read an essay or three at a time and not get completely sucked in to it :-)
2007-07-03
- About:
jered: Indispensible Technology
- When:
Tue Jul 3 15:29:04 2007
- Where:
http://jered.livejournal.com/39935.html?view=210431#t210431
- What:
- jott? [info]eichin 2007-07-03 07:28 pm UTC (link) DeleteTrack This jott.com seems to be in a similar-but-not-quite-the-same space; they do a free "leave yourself voice notes that get converted" service that I've been playing with, I think it's not trying to handle arbitrary voicemail as such... (Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)