dan: http://quellish.blogspot.com/ jillo: whatd u add? dan: stufffffff jillo: like what jillo: im sick of fucking going there and looking thru the whole fucking site to find whatever shit u just put on there jillo: it would be a great help to me if u would just tell me hey look here i just added that dan: dude dan: the stuff at the top is the newest. dan: it's reverse chronological order.
[ 8/22/2002 05:04:51 PM ] [ ]
1. found defcon receipt, yay. 2. sbus adapter card arrived, yay. 3. slept late because i passed out so quickly last night that I didn't set the alarm. um... [ 8/22/2002 01:33:44 PM ] [ ]
Walking to the garage... Homeless woman sitting in front of the Yoga studio... "You got a couple of dollars?" Dollars? Not change, dollars. Ignoring her. "Didja ever think about getting laid?" Walking faster. "I can have children!" Run? [ 8/22/2002 01:32:34 PM ] [ ]
Standing in the sun like an arrogant god, looking down, pointing. "What's that?" The running green forest canopy below terminates in thick black smoke and licking flame. "The Guatemalans, they are protesting Belize again, the border. They are burning the rainforest to push us back." Under my feet, rock rubbed smooth by time, carried from the sea on the backs of the doomed, the weak, the faithful. Stepping on history, watching the future burn. [ 8/22/2002 12:22:49 AM ] [ ]
Back to props. I had been thinking about variable blade pitch props that would allow a submersible to move in any direction - most submersibles use either hydrodynamic control surfaces (rudders, diveplanes) or small thrusters that lie along each axis of movement. Both of them have a lot of disadvatages. Now if you had a prop with 20+ blades, each of which had a full 360 degrees of rotation along it's long axis, if you could control each individually, you would be pretty close to having the prop I want. As I thought about it through the day, I'm thinking more and more that you would need two counter-rotating props to really pull it off, or to exploit some kind of hydrodynamic effect that I haven't touched on yet. Hmmm... [ 8/22/2002 12:10:37 AM ] [ ]
Yes, I have been thinking about propellors all day. It keeps me from slowly going insane working in a little box within a big box.... boxes full of people too afraid to step outside (yes, multiple meanings there). So I spent a fair amount of time today trying to remember what a certain kind of prop was called. One of the first [contestants] in the [human powered submarine contest] used it, a vehicle called "Knuckleball" that was done by a fairly famous marine engineer. This was in the early 1990s, and since the internet became.... internetted... those kinds of pages have disappeared. So my only lead on that was a dry hump. It's sad that once upon a time, the internet was a utopia- everyone was excited because there was a free communication of ideas, people took pride and effort into putting up pages on the web that they cared about, people used IRC, usenet was a hangout and it was worthwhile to break into Princeton's e-quad computer rooms to spend all weekend hacking and playing [bolo]. The turning point was AOL's connection to the "real internet". Previous to that, AOL members could only see AOL, not the internet. Seems like an odd idea now, but for a long time AOL resisted allowing it's members access to the bigger internet- they couldn't hold a member's hand there, and more importantly, it was a loss of control for them, and with that there were less opportunies to make money. Eventually even AOL gave in and suddenly you could see massive wars on usenet over wether to *allow* aol.com addresses to post in newsgroups. The neighborhood became a lot less friendly, and the property values dropped considerably. It's a very different internet now. Not only are aol.com addresses common, but since circa 1995 when every other word you read or heard was INTERNET, every business you could possibly imagine has attempted to stake it's claim on the net. Massive commercialization, lawsuits, media exposure, have all taken their toll on the social constructs that once governed behavior on this great big network of brains. We have gone from the mentality and security of a small town environment to that of a bigger than life city. You can find anything on the internet, but these days everything tries to find you. [ 8/22/2002 12:05:16 AM ] [ ]
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (ok, Menlo Park), a little company of former Apple people got together and created a new unix-like operating system. They did what linux hasn't done in less time, with less resources, and with less imperfections. BeOS was what linux and MacOS X often wish they could be. But a great product doesn't always mean you're going to take over the world- people have conquered the world with mediocre products, after all. In the end BeOS faded away and was aquired by Palm. Sad, but true. There are still many die-hard BeOS fans out there, and there are still many aspects of the OS that are far ahead of their time. Also ahead of his time was Be's flamboyant CEO, Jean-Louis Gassée, formerly of Apple (ironically, at Apple he was known for being against cloning the Mac, at one point Be's business was selling their OS for Mac clones). Gassée is an interesting guy. [Click Here] to see some random quotes from him, two samples of which are below.
"We should be thankful for a few reminders from Microsoft. Don't play where they master both sides of an interface or a transaction. Initial success, or failure, doesn't mean much; relentless pursuit and execution of an idea does." - Be Newsletter, Issue 50
"The romance of Silicon Valley was about money - excuse me, about changing the world, one million dollars at a time." - Wired Magazine, Issue 4.05
As a side note, for a while I had some Gassée quotes in my random email signatures. A headhunter came down on me for it, saying that prospective employers might find it very offensive. Tell someone that gives a fuck If they can't handle it, I wouldn't like working there anyway, would I? And Mr. Headhunter wouldn't see me hang around long enough to get his fee. [ 8/21/2002 04:52:18 PM ] [ ]
Sure, as soon as work decides to reimburse me for my [defcon] pass, I can't find the fucking receipt! My to-do list gets longer as my week gets shorter. In software engineering, we call this a [race condition]. I need ideas for mom's birthday present. Badly. Today's favorite headline: [Mom charged with letting kids get sunburned] [ 8/21/2002 12:10:38 PM ] [ ]
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
OK, depending on what kind of geek you are (and if you're not a geek of some kind, wtf are you, anyway? go away!), you may or may not have heard of [DeepFlight] before. It's been in Popular Science, National Geographic, etc. off and on for the past 10 years. Quite cool... From their [FAQ]
Previous submersible craft all use variable weight and or displacement (ie ballast and buoyancy tanks, drop weights, etc.) to change their apparent weight in water causing the craft to either sink or become buoyant and rise to the surface. Variable Buoyancy (VB) is then a fundamental characteristic of the bathyscaphe, submersible, and submarines. In contrast, Deep Flight I has no VB systems; rather it moves vertically through the water, under power using forces developed on its wing surfaces similar to an aircraft. Deep Flight I makes an analogous transition underwater that balloons/blimps made in air to heavier than air machines, or fixed wing aircraft.
So yes, not only is DeepFlight, the coolest, sexiest thing to hit the water, but now you can not only [take a ride] in the two person version.... you can take [UNDERWATER FLIGHT SCHOOL]
I'm sorry, nothing is cooler than that. I had thought about taking a certain someone not only on a flight lesson, but a [dogfight]. Now I know that we're going to take the Deep Flight school someday, and then Dan is going to design and build our own subs. Dogfight? Maybe. Fly with whales, dolphins, and mantas? Definitely
[ 8/20/2002 11:31:48 PM ] [ ]
[She Hates My Futon] is always a good read on a rainy day, even if it's never going to be finished. Co-workers (not the bulbs in the bunch), are talking about engineers - EE, ME, and of course aero (which is what I almost was). The ignorance of so called "smart people" continues to astound me. The only thing keeping me from strangling them is my headphones. ph33r the day my music dies. [ 8/20/2002 01:20:26 PM ] [ ]
More rain today. Took about 2hrs to get here, then I realize gee, the boss isn't in today, I could have stayed home and worked from there, enjoyed the rain on the beach, had lunch at [Duke's] in [Malibu...] FUCK! That's just life. I gots mah cawfee, I gots mah smokes, I gots my werk, it's all good. OK, OK, [caught this] while looking at [cDc's blog.] [ 8/20/2002 12:09:03 PM ] [ ]
Monday, August 19, 2002
i am a better person.... because of her. Cheesy sounding, but true. Why? I want to be a better person. I want to do things that make her proud and make me proud of myself. I'm free to be myself with her.... even when I'm an asshole. Though my life has been shitty in the very recent past, it could be a lot worse, and I am way better off than I was a few months ago. My heart's gotten a beating, a lot of it for goofystupid reasons, but... i still have a heart [ 8/19/2002 10:08:56 PM ] [ ]
thanks to our friends at [netcomments], we now have working comments! [haloscan's] were broken in MacOS IE, netcomments is... slightly less broken. still working on getting something that works well. [ 8/19/2002 09:49:06 PM ] [ ]
holy fucktards batman! wsou's stream is finally back! [listen to real music!] [ 8/19/2002 07:15:27 PM ] [ ]
[Palestinian Guerrilla Chief Abu Nidal Reportedly Dead] "The schoolteacher-turned-terror mastermind, once branded the world's most dangerous terrorist by the U.S. State Department, struck from Paris to Pakistan for more than two decades." "They said they believed Abu Nidal committed suicide, but did not explain how he could have shot himself several times. " I hate to admit it, but that did brighten up my day a little. [ 8/19/2002 03:56:51 PM ] [ ]
Relationships. At times, the most wonderful thing in the world. At other times, the worst. When you love someone, you love every part of them, everything about them. You transcend their flaws, their imperfections both big and small. The ways you are alike, the ways that you are different.
But you can't take anything for granted. Do what you think is right, and live with the consequences.
Not quite so long ago in realtime someone fell into my lap. I fell in love, hard. I wasn't out looking for it (that never leads to good things, IMHO), I wasn't even looking for a relationship. It just happened. Funny how that works out. In dantime it seems like years ago that it happened.
Our relationship has been complicated, to see the least. I don't see her much (well, never), and that has made things pretty hard on me. Trading sweet nothings via IMs, email, etc.... it isn't for the faint of heart. A text-only channel can have very little bandwidth, which can lead to disaster if you're emotionally invested in what you're reading. There is no inflection in TCP packet. Simple statements can lead to misunderstandings. If someone sees you not typing much, or answering with single words, they usually assume you're pissed off, not that you're tired or your carpal tunnel is acting up or you're shuttling between the dishes and the computer with soapy hands avoiding certain death by electrocution.
It is condensing meaning from the vapor of nuance, and primates do it better in person.
That said, you can often know someone online in ways you never would in person. You'll learn things about them they might never tell you otherwise, you might discover things that you would only encounter after years of dating. You can pull a vulcan mind meld without even trying.
Knowing someone is not as simple as exchanging pgp keys, I suppose.
In the real world, the world of concrete and disappointment, I flounder. Headhunters say I am in demand because I have better social skillz than the average geek (the average geek to them, honestly, is fresh off the boat from asia though). I fall in between. I have better social skills than some, but far less impressive than most. I suppose I'm a nice guy, I don't go kicking puppies regularly, but at the same time I'm not the slick idiot who spent more time on his hair than his girlfriend did.
That's not me.
I am, at heart, a hacker. In the old skool MIT way. I am a liberal. In the "i don't fuck around" kind of way. I'm neither democrat or republican. I, unlike most of the people around me it seems, am aware of my environment (pilots call it "situational awareness"). I can hold up a conversation without trying, but rarely try - because I bore easily I guess. My kinds of serious conversations are often above the level of other people.
But I'm still fun ;) I am your broken futon, your missing underwear, the stain you can't get out, the creaking noise you can't find, the tell-tale heart that is your own lurking fear. I'll open your eyes to the good and evil in the world, and we're all good.... in our own ways.
evilcrazyfunlikemajjik. that's me.
[ 8/19/2002 03:08:40 PM ] [ ]
Fun drive into work today. In southern california, it rarely rains. That's a good thing, since people here don't know what to do when driving in the rain. No joke, the whole city completely stops. Me, I come from place where we would only get a snow day if it was over 20 inches coming down. Rain, ha! So last night I was going to the laundry room at 2am (damn neighbors hogged the machines all day and night) and I was walking through ground fog. When I woke up today it sure as hell looked like it had rained overnight, and when I got onto the highway sure enough, droplets were hitting my windshield. Here even the rain is surreal, it wasn't even a drizzle by NJ standards, it was more of a fine mist, like champagne bubbles. And every driver on the 405N was *stopping* to turn on their wipers. God, I fucking love this town.
New TV show idea: [Al Queda's Funniest Home Videos]. Maybe Osama will show up to collect the $10k award, right? You never know. Postmodern terrorists sure seem to be prolific videographers. You'd think they would know to cover their tracks a tad better than that. More than half of the major terrorist attacks that have be stopped in the past decade have been foiled because intelligence and law enforcement agencies have obtained photos, emails, or videos from the terrorist's target reconnaissance runs.
Now I'm debating the whole homebuilt wireless AP idea. The 200mW card I want is about $150, the same cost as a Linksys wireless ap. I wouldn't be able to do some of the cool stuff I want to with the linksys, but I'm not even sure yet that the 200mW card will work in the sbus->pcmcia bridge. Ug. Supposedly cardbus cards won't work, and the 802.11 card is most likely cardbus (which, I think in this case only really means that it requires different voltages).
Found my [h3llb3nt][hardcore vanilla] mp3s, yay! h3llb3nt is the sexy side of industrial hardcore/postpunk.... maybe. Back in DC I amanged to get to a show (this was 1996 mind you), chemlab, 16 volt, and acumen nation. h3llb3nt is/was a collaboration between chemlab and 16 volt, so they actually sang 3 murders, 3 nights and chromed, live for the first time, but had to get someone to print out the lyrics for them. Neato! Now be a good monkey and [download]3 murders, 3 nights and forget you [ 8/19/2002 12:06:15 PM ] [ ]
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Hmmm no new Alias tonight. That sucks. The flashback episode. *sigh* Gee, looking at [this], I really am screwed, aren't I? But aren't we all? [ 8/18/2002 09:06:11 PM ] [ ]
So one of the things I'm working on someplace between sleeping, driving to work, and berating coworkers is setting up my own wireless accesspoint/router for home. [A friend] was getting rid of some Sun hardware, and hey, at under $10 for a Sparc Classic, how could you go wrong buying that, right? I had originally intended to use it as server for things like tgps (tgp=pr0n$), but then I got this crazy idea... sparc classic + sbus->pcmcia bridge + 802.11b card = access point. Cheaper and more flexible than buying a linksys (though I wouldn't mind one anyway!). With some luck and some saving of money, I'll get the [200mW card] I saw at defcon x this year and I'll be able to provide access to a good portion of Venice. Yes kids, 200mW - 2x-4x the other guys. Now, the neato thing here is that since it's not just a lil embedded system with flash memory like a linksys of airport AP, I can do some [interesting stuff]. Donations of 802.11/2.4GHz goodies are always welcome ;)
Since the company I work for is just selling sugared water like the other guys, and that's never going to change, I just have to change the world from home, one byte at a time. [ 8/18/2002 04:32:01 PM ] [ ]
Yes, now even you can surprise a loved one, or better yet, an enemy, with wholesome [Chinese goodness]. Imagine the possibilities. If you like The Last Dragon though, this could be just another one of life's disappointments. The Master is on the net? [ 8/18/2002 04:09:01 PM ] [ ]
Hello World!
Yup... this is the first test post. [ 8/18/2002 02:25:50 PM ] [ ]
