Damn the Bandwagon

Free Toys

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:17:22 -0700

I was very proud of Kodiak's willingness to choose some of his toys to donate, so I took a picture to share. The white sheets of paper say FREE.

LCA Research Logs

Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:21:52 -0800

I need to get Google into the picture so that I can find stuff later, so here's some info about the WordPress blogs we've just set up.

Stephen asked me to set up the research logs, so that we could have more control over the plugins. In particular, he wanted to be able to use LaTeX in his research journal. I agreed to set up the site, and now myself and David Collins have logs, too.

Stupid Pet Trick

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 12:54:13 -0800

How to touch a bunch of files when the argument list is too long.



cable $ touch `ls -1tr | head -100`

Repeat as needed.

Busted (slightly)

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:42:33 -0800

My labmate Stephen caught me playing Frets on Fire. Now you know why graduate school takes so long.

Eclipse Web Cache

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:45:41 -0800

In preparation for an upcoming workshop, I'm building some XML schemas for the CADAC. I've been uploading them to a directory a directory on the website, to reference them from instance documents. And I've just learned that Reload Dependencies doesn't mean a damn thing to Eclise, at least in the area of validating XML and HTTP. So, if you modify the schema document on a remote server, go to Preference->Internet->Cache and remove the offending entry. I considered disabling the cache, but this was a learning curve issue, not a design problem.

Other than that, I'm finding Eclipse, and it's Web Tools to be reasonable for creating schemas and instance documents.

Things I Like

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:38:54 -0800

I was inspired by today's XKCD comic to mention some things I enjoy on the web. XKCD is definitely one of them; Randall Munroe just seems to nail the stuff that I deal with daily. Some of it is a little too topical (like Rick Rolling), but having a computer explain the feeling of a segfault is just perfect.

Something that I've just started listening to is Astronomy Cast. This is podcast that does a good job of covering current research topics in astronomy and astrophysics, without delving into math. Which means it's perfect for me while I'm walking to get coffee.

Moonlighting

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 11:54:07 -0800

For some time now, I've worked with my family at Sterling, a custom elevator interior company. I know this sounds odd for someone who's current life mostly involves being a graduate student in astrophysics. But, most of my work for Sterling has been system administration type stuff. This has allowed me a little more up-to-date in technology areas outside of the code we work on in the lab.

This Works

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 13:43:19 -0700

Our GE dishwasher has been giving us some trouble lately. It will hum when we try to start it, and after a couple of tries, it will usually work. The sound is reminiscent of an electric motor trying to turn, and that's exactly what the problem is. I found this photo, which summarizes the fix. Of course, if the motor keeps this up, it's going to get replaced. Or, my wife's dream of a new (much quieter) Bosch dishwasher will come true.

Tried the Fruit Beer

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:02:42 -0700

A little musty, might have sat in the fermenter too long. Other than that, it's well carbonated, and tastes like it might have a kick.

I'll try it again when I get back from my trip. Then I'll have to decide if it's worth trying to improve the process.

Ubuntu Linux Cluster

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:46:58 -0700

I had to post this. I was chatting with an undergrad who worked with me last year administering a Beowulf cluster, and we were discussing Ubuntu. We've been using Rocks, but we're lazy enough to want something even easier. (Hard to say if you've used Rocks.) Anyways, I mentioned the idea of running Ubuntu on the cluster, and he totally disappeared.