Mar 2003
Thu, 27 Mar 2003
Steven Johnson on iPhoto
So tonight I discovered that Steven Johnson has a blog. I have at least one of Steven's books and really dig it. Anyhow, he's written an article that points out the interface innovation in Apple's iPhoto, but the article doesn't really explain where the zoomable UI concept originates. I believe a fair bit of the research (and subsequent implementation) on zoomable UI was done by Ben Bederson's group at the University of Maryland HCI Lab. Check out photomesa. It was really slow when I first looked at it, but the conceptual approach to bringing meaning to large numbers of image objects was certainly novel at the time.
Posted at: 23:43 | permalink
Tue, 25 Mar 2003
Janitor Where Art Thou?
Do janitors really search for jobs on the web? If so, do they have resumes? If they have resumes, do employers like this pay to relocate janitors? Offer signing bonuses? Stock options? Stop the insanity!
Posted at: 21:10 | permalink
Mon, 24 Mar 2003
Free At Last, Free At Last
Well, folks... I finally joined the legions of unemployed today. No blame placed, no sympathy required. Let's just say I'm glad to be moving on and leave it at that. Anyhow, I've put the resumé link back on the header bar, updated the resumé in 3 forms and started calling my friends in low places. If you have work, I'm all ears.
In the meantime, I think I'll get back to eating right, exercising regularly, and taking in the sunshine. Who knows how long that'll last.
Posted at: 15:49 | permalink
Mon, 17 Mar 2003
Bone Marrow Yields Insulin Producing Cells
In a breakthrough study, the Seattle Post Intelligencer (via Google News) reports that researchers at NYU have discovered an insulin producing property in the bone marrow cells of mice. The implications for diabetes cures are not yet known.
Posted at: 11:17 | permalink
Sun, 16 Mar 2003
Routalicious - Riding Western PA routes 308, 322, 68
Did my first 100+ mile day on the bike today. Discovered a wonderful route, some of which I had ridden in other forms, some of which was new to me. The route goes like this:
- From route 8 in Butler, PA head north on route 308. Route 8 intersects with 308 north at the north end of Clearview Mall.
- Follow 308 north all the way to Franklin, PA. 308 crosses under route 8 at Pearl. Do not enter route 8 there, follow 308 all the way to it's end where it joins route 8 just south of Franklin.
- Make a left and follow route 8 north into Franklin. Once on the main street, go straight until Route 322 east, which will be a left turn.
- Follow 322 east to Clarion.
- In Clarion, make a right onto route 68 west and follow 68 west to Butler.
The whole trip took about 3 hours and came out to about 120 miles on my odometer. Each of the three routes, 308, 322, and 68 has some amazingly fun rolling hills and curves. In the early morning hours that I rode it, it was virtually deserted save for route 68 which arguably had more Harleys than cars.
Tomorrow, the joys of commuting by bike with a high of 68 degrees!
Posted at: 21:01 | permalink
Fri, 14 Mar 2003
Google Has Growing Pains
This is not a condemnation of Google, but rather just an investigation of empirical evidence coming out of Google's search product. Bryan reports that he's experienced some google errors. Transient errors are nothing new on the web, but Google has been incredibly stable to this point.
It gets worse. I noticed Google referring some traffic to my site this morning via a simple search, vb mono linux. At the time of this screenshot my article is the #1 entry for this particular search.
This raises two interesting issues: 1) How or why is my site ranked above the mono site itself in Google's ranking algorithm? 2) Notice the URL of my article:
http://davidwatson.org/archives/000746.html
That's the wrong URL.
If you visit the site, www.davidwatson.org redirects to davidwatson.org:8086 and that article is linked as
http://www.davidwatson.org/archives/000746.html
in every instance that I can find.
Google's parser handles this correctly for the vast majority of links, including a simple search on david watson. However, there appears to be a bug in the parse of this particular link, because that link never occurs without the trip dub prefix or the 8086 port on my site. I'll report this bug to google later today.
The timing of all this is interesting given that Bryan and I are going to see Marissa Mayer speak at CMU next week. Hmm...
Update: Russell Beattie weighs in on a similar subject here.
Posted at: 11:30 | permalink
NESBA at BeaveRun
I just registered for the free NESBA introductory course at BeaveRun. This is a great deal. I get to attend the beginner classroom training and have a couple 15 minute runs around the track for free. I'm excited. The track looks like a lot of fun and maybe I'll learn something.
To NESBA's credit, the entire registration is online, as it should be. That's more than I can say for the MSF course. I've gotten a busy signal everytime I've tried to call and register. People would be a lot safer if they could actually register for the course successfully.
Posted at: 00:12 | permalink
Thu, 13 Mar 2003
Slashdot on Motorized Bicycles
From slashdot: Is that a motorbike or what? 80 MPG at 30 MPH... seems like that could provide a cheap, efficient commuting alternative for a lot of people.
Posted at: 21:58 | permalink
Wed, 12 Mar 2003
Scary Stunts at Daytona
If you go to Bike Week at Daytona and happen to be watching a certain stunt rider do tricks for the audience, don't volunteer. It could cost you the family jewels.
Posted at: 07:52 | permalink
Tue, 11 Mar 2003
moRaSS Sneak Preview
I've demonstrated previously that I was able to parse RSS with current mono implementations. I've now begun taking baby steps to wrap that RSS parse in a gtksharp GUI. It's hideous, and it borrows heavily from the work of Kristian Rietveld, and it needs to be modded to use libgtkhtml to show it's markup, but it runs and demonstrates further what's possible with current mono implementations on linux. I'm running version 0.23.
More later, after the motorcycle ride. I've got priorities. :-/
Posted at: 15:29 | permalink
Sun, 09 Mar 2003
Chilly Vanilly
So maybe commuting on two wheels year round requires more thought. Despite my wife's protestations, I headed out on the bike this morning to go off and teach a lesson to one of my students. I got a mile from the house before I decided that 19 degrees with winds running 15-30 MPH was inviting pre-demise rigor mortis. It was kinda fun watching people drive by going, "Oh my god, that man's on a motorcycle". It wasn't that my torso wasn't prepared. It's the extremities that are problematic. Note to self: better gloves and a balaclava. Someday I'll learn that the wife is never wrong. Period.
Anyhow, I did manage to take a few pics in bright sunlight, so if you're searching the web for high resolution pics of a 2002 Suzuki SV650 in yellow or a KBC VR-1 helmet in yellow, you've come to the right place.
Posted at: 13:32 | permalink
Sat, 08 Mar 2003
Picking Up The Pieces
Of my shattered former self, I wonder why anybody drives a car? Come to think of it, would you like to buy my Quattro? If it weren't for all of the ice and snow that we have around here this time of year, there'd be no reason for these four wheeled friends. Of course, there are people who think that two wheels can handle anything.
I am referring to my indoctrination into motorcycle-holics anonymous this afternoon. I got to the shop around 2:30, just as the weather was peaking at 58 degrees with light winds. The sun had ducked behind a steady layer of clouds but precipitation wouldn't come till this evening. My mother gave me a ride to the shop and I kindly asked her if she would follow me home so that I wouldn't have any scary people driving up my muffler. She agreed and we set out from the shop at about 3 o'clock. I chose a particarly circuitous route over the 30 miles or so from the shop to my house. I managed to construct the route entirely from rural 2 lanes and quite happily I might add that you'd be hard pressed to find a straight road in this part of Pennsylvania.
This is where I begin raving about the bike. I mentioned in the previous post that I bought a 2002 Suzuki SV650. I have piles of european motorcycle magazines laying here saying how wonderful it is but all of that paid professional banter doesn't adequately describe just how good the bike is, especially for beginners.
One problem that seems to haunt beginner bikes is that they rarely have enough power and charm to keep pleasing their owners past the neophyte stage. The SV has armies of people defending it as a top notch canyon carver or race bike, but I've seen quite a few articles stating that it may not be an appropriate bike for novices. And I heartily disagree. What do you want from a novice bike? Ease of use? It's there in spades, evidenced by the fact that I only stalled the bike once, and I haven't been on a bike in at least 15 years. The gear box, throttle, brakes, and switches are all in easy reach and all work smoothly without the typical false neutrals, locked up brakes, etc.
Another thing that's improved dramatically in 20 years is helmet technology. I recall the old motorcycle helmets from the 70s being rather unfashionable, uncomfortable, and (most likely) unsafe. The KBC VR-1 model that I bought is comfortable, highly visible, and affordable. I was rather amazed as I zipped down the road at what a serene experience that this helmet provides. I am not alone in this opinion.
After the initial nervous feeling wore off in the first 5 minutes, I rode the bike so much that the low fuel light came on. As I was gassing up, the gentleman next to me asked about the bike and mentioned that he and the wife were both motorcycle riders. That friendly camaraderie gives me a warm fuzzy. The other warm fuzzy comes from the kind of zen state required to successfully pilot a motorcycle without getting killed. There's nothing like it.
I'm hoping that the weather improves as I'd like to get out and ride some more but I believe the high tomorrow is supposed to be 30 degrees. I'll at least try and get some pictures if the sun's out. There wasn't enough daylight left by the time I came home tonight.
Posted at: 23:26 | permalink
Spring is Sprung
At least for today, the weather is looking very spring-like in western PA. I decided to pick up my new motorcycle today. That's it exactly - a 2002 Suzuki SV650. I was feeling a little nervous about it, having not ridden a motorcycle in a long time, until I saw this. Note the domain. Things like this have an incredible calming and inspiring effect on me. I thought to myself, if this guy can ride a motorcycle with a prosthesis, I can ride one with all my limbs intact. I'm sure it'll be an experience. More on that later and hopefully a few pics if I have enough daylight left.
Posted at: 11:01 | permalink
Fri, 07 Mar 2003
SCO Sues IBM For Devaluing Unix
In what can only be described as one of the strangest lawsuits in years, the Register reports that SCO is suing IBM for devaluing Unix.
Posted at: 07:32 | permalink
Thu, 06 Mar 2003
Tom Ridge Kills Model Rocketry
I enjoyed building and launching model rockets as a boy. Now an entire generation may be prohibited from such enjoyment. Should we be surprised if some kid blows himself up in the backyard trying to launch one of these things with a homemade concoction in place of a proper solid fuel rocket engine? I guess I won't be suprised if it looks like a scene out of October Sky. Sigh.
Posted at: 21:34 | permalink
Mon, 03 Mar 2003
RSS - bearer of bad fruit
Dave Winer's quoting Jeremy Allaire talking about some of the bad stuff that could happen with RSS. Connecting the dots... Philip Fibiger is talking about some really bad stuff that he's prototyped in RSS. Yikes.
Posted at: 23:44 | permalink
XMLRPC on Mono - NYet
That's short for Not Yet. I've been working on building Charles Cook's XMLRPC.net library on Mono 0.21 on Redhat 8. I've got the DLL built, but running a client application against a perl XML-RPC server using XMLRPC::Lite and the following C# client code:
using CookComputing.XmlRpc;
using System.Net;
using System;
public class dave
{
[XmlRpcUrl("http://localhost:8080/")]
interface Demo
{
[XmlRpcMethod("hi")]
string hi();
}
static void Main(string [] args)
{
Demo proxy = (Demo)XmlRpcProxyGen.Create(typeof(Demo));
Console.WriteLine(proxy.hi());
}
}
I get the following call stack:
# mono StateName.exe
Unhandled Exception: System.ObjectDisposedException: The object was used after being disposed
in <0x000af> 00 System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream:CheckDisposed ()
in <0x0001d> 00 System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream:Read (byte[],int,int)
in <0x00142> 00 System.Net.HttpWebResponse:ReadHttpLine (System.IO.Stream)
in <0x0021c> 00 System.Net.HttpWebResponse:.ctor (System.Uri,string,System.IO.Stream)
in <0x001eb> 00 System.Net.HttpWebRequest:GetResponseInternal ()
in <0x00060> 01 System.MulticastDelegate:invoke_WebResponse ()
Exception Rethrown at:
in (unmanaged) 03 System.MulticastDelegate:end_invoke_WebResponse_IAsyncResult (System.IAsyncResult)
in <0x00004> 03 System.MulticastDelegate:end_invoke_WebResponse_IAsyncResult (System.IAsyncResult)
in <0x0011c> 00 System.Net.HttpWebRequest:EndGetResponse (System.IAsyncResult)
in <0x000e4> 00 System.Net.HttpWebRequest:GetResponse ()
in <0x00087> 00 System.Web.Services.Protocols.WebClientProtocol:GetWebResponse (System.Net.WebRequest)
in <0x0031e> 00 CookComputing.XmlRpc.XmlRpcClientProtocol:Invoke (object,string,object[])
in <0x0001e> 00 CookComputing.XmlRpc.XmlRpcClientProtocol:Invoke (string,object[])
in <0x00048> 00 .XmlRpcProxyd13f5f04-0d7c-4d7f-b39d-4d57dd98bf00:hi ()
in <0x00066> 00 .dave:Main (string[])
This is consistent with the results that Charles reported to me by email. I'm assuming for now that there are some bits and pieces of the FCL missing that XMLRPC.net requires. I'm hopeful that they'll be there soon. Now that I have the library building cleanly on Mono, I'll keep it lying around and retest with new builds of Mono and report my results here.
Posted at: 19:39 | permalink
