December 10th, 2009
December 9th, 2009
Hi there! What's going on? Yeah? That's great.
Anyway, I've been busy lately. I've started another project in Jonathan's basement, and I made out like a bandit last weekend at Goodwill:
Jefferson Starship! (though not the album with White Rabbit on it) Jethro Tull! A couple Fresh Aire records! A smörgåsbord of awesome.
Second, I've been on a well-nigh tool-buying spree. Seriously. If tools were candy I would have a cavity.
One of the things that I bought was a corded drill. I've been really pleased with the cordless drill that I got as a Christmas (birthday?) present a number of years ago, but the project that I'll mention in a moment required a corded drill.
I at first got one at Home Depot for $60, which is about what I was expecting. On impulse, I went over to Lowe's to see their selection. Good thing I did, because I spotted a nearly-identical drill on sale for ...$23. Well, color me happy/surprised/yellowy-pink! So I took the other one back. The returns guy agreed that I'd made the right choice.
One thing that the corded drill enabled me to do was put a hole in my ceiling. One of the very few things that I don't like about this apartment is how dark it is. The only built-in lights are in the kitchen (fine), two small hallways (dim), dining room (dim), and bathroom (fine). I presntly have six lamps of various sorts in my apartment, but none near the door due to lack of space.
So, for awhile I've really wanted a light in the ceiling there. Unfortunately, my building is made out of concrete, and my battery-powered drill just couldn't do it. But! With this one! I can! Ha! A ha ha! Ha!
...Well I was going for evil, but I think I got sneezy.
Anyway, here's the finished product, pretty cool, eh?
Thirdly, four of us (Jonathan, Anna, Martin, and I) have started "new food Tuesdays," where we rotate weekly amongst our various abodes, cooking a different dinner each time! So far we've done Thai, Japanese, and Mexican. This week was Italian at Jonathan & Anna's!
Martin: "Hnnk!"
*Hnnk* reminds me of,
We decided to make pizza, which would've been somewhat pedestrian except we decided to make MORE THAN ONE! We did a white sauce, red sauce, and dessert pizza!
Anna puts the dessert pizza in the oven.
It was revealed that, when he was young, Martin worked for a summer at Dominoe's pizza. We pressed him into throwing the pizza.
And it very nearly worked.
We were kept company by not one, but *two* kitties:
If you're doubting your ability to count because the one on the right seems to only have three legs, don't worry. You're fine.
The cat, who goes by the monikers "Man," "Dude," or "Dudeman," is missing his rear left leg. Still, he gets around quite fine, and is a noticeably intelligent cat. He followed Katie cat in and made himself home on the couch, which surprised me a bit because he's normally very skittish. But apparently he just wanted attention, because whenever I'd wander over to pet him he'd aggressively push himself into my palm.
At one point when they were both on the couch, I stopped petting him to pet Katie, and he moved over and sprawled right next to her. "C'mon, pet meeeee! I'm adorable!" I like him.
Anyway!
Here's the white sauce pizza:
The sauce was great, and involved things like white wine, garlic, oregano, and onion powder.
Jonathan here looks...tired...yeah, "tired."
The red pizza construction starts:
And just like that! Everything's done!
Eventually, we had the dessert pizza, which was delicious.
But, finally! The project! I was inspired by a screensaver, which showed a spinning, floating 3D Sierpinksi triangle, or "Sierpinski pyramid":
(The one on the left. The one on the right is an "inverse Sierpinski pyramid.")
Unfortunately, as you can see, each pyramid meets another at the corners of the pyramid, rather than at the faces. This makes the construction of it more challenging, because you can't very well use wood glue. Don't worry, I have plans. Great plans. Wonderful plans! Plans that I have no idea if they'll work!
So, as a warm-up, I decided to build a 3D Menger sponge:
Both of these fractal objects are described by their "level." In the above image, the objects from left to right are levels 1–4.
The caveat to this endeavor is that I wanted to make the model entirely out of the highest-level cubes. The number of cubes goes like this:
I settled on doing a Level 3 sponge. But! In a flash of insight, we decided to drill holes in the middle of each block giving the illusion of it being a Level 4 fractal.
But let me tell you, drilling 3 holes in 400 cubes is not the easiest thing in the world. Here's what 400 3/4" cubes of birch look like:
A letdown? Yeah, maybe.
This is the ideal project for someone who owns a drill press. I do not. So, this past weekend while Jonathan and Anna were gone, I made myself an inverse drill press, which I'm still awfully proud of:
Eh? Eh? Pretty great, right? I would slot a cube in the wood tray and bring it down on the drill, then bring it back up, rotate it 90°, and repeat. The metal lips served to hold the blocks in place. I got pretty quick with it by the end of a half hour or so.
Lucky for all of us, Jonathan in his infinite wisdom borrowed his dad's drill press. See, the only downside to my design was that my corded drill sounds like a very tiny, very angry jet engine. The drill press, on the other hand, sounds like a slightly stuffed-up refrigerator. SO, we switched to that.
We got through them all in about an hour.
As an added twist, I want to stain half of the blocks in a checkerboard pattern. So, in between dinner pizza and dessert pizza, that's what we did!
(While watching MST3K.)
Jonathan noted, "Wow, it looks like a lot of individual spectra." A reference which maybe only![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
rudybang will appreciate.
I also want to poly the unstained blocks, for durability's sake. We started on that, too.
I'm hopeful! The main source of variation in color that you see is due to some blocks being end-grain up. They're the darker ones.
Finally finally, it snowed here last night:
*shiver*
Anyway, I've been busy lately. I've started another project in Jonathan's basement, and I made out like a bandit last weekend at Goodwill:
Jefferson Starship! (though not the album with White Rabbit on it) Jethro Tull! A couple Fresh Aire records! A smörgåsbord of awesome.
Second, I've been on a well-nigh tool-buying spree. Seriously. If tools were candy I would have a cavity.
One of the things that I bought was a corded drill. I've been really pleased with the cordless drill that I got as a Christmas (birthday?) present a number of years ago, but the project that I'll mention in a moment required a corded drill.
I at first got one at Home Depot for $60, which is about what I was expecting. On impulse, I went over to Lowe's to see their selection. Good thing I did, because I spotted a nearly-identical drill on sale for ...$23. Well, color me happy/surprised/yellowy-pink! So I took the other one back. The returns guy agreed that I'd made the right choice.
One thing that the corded drill enabled me to do was put a hole in my ceiling. One of the very few things that I don't like about this apartment is how dark it is. The only built-in lights are in the kitchen (fine), two small hallways (dim), dining room (dim), and bathroom (fine). I presntly have six lamps of various sorts in my apartment, but none near the door due to lack of space.
So, for awhile I've really wanted a light in the ceiling there. Unfortunately, my building is made out of concrete, and my battery-powered drill just couldn't do it. But! With this one! I can! Ha! A ha ha! Ha!
...Well I was going for evil, but I think I got sneezy.
Anyway, here's the finished product, pretty cool, eh?
Thirdly, four of us (Jonathan, Anna, Martin, and I) have started "new food Tuesdays," where we rotate weekly amongst our various abodes, cooking a different dinner each time! So far we've done Thai, Japanese, and Mexican. This week was Italian at Jonathan & Anna's!
Martin: "Hnnk!"
*Hnnk* reminds me of,
We decided to make pizza, which would've been somewhat pedestrian except we decided to make MORE THAN ONE! We did a white sauce, red sauce, and dessert pizza!
Anna puts the dessert pizza in the oven.
It was revealed that, when he was young, Martin worked for a summer at Dominoe's pizza. We pressed him into throwing the pizza.
And it very nearly worked.
We were kept company by not one, but *two* kitties:
If you're doubting your ability to count because the one on the right seems to only have three legs, don't worry. You're fine.
The cat, who goes by the monikers "Man," "Dude," or "Dudeman," is missing his rear left leg. Still, he gets around quite fine, and is a noticeably intelligent cat. He followed Katie cat in and made himself home on the couch, which surprised me a bit because he's normally very skittish. But apparently he just wanted attention, because whenever I'd wander over to pet him he'd aggressively push himself into my palm.
At one point when they were both on the couch, I stopped petting him to pet Katie, and he moved over and sprawled right next to her. "C'mon, pet meeeee! I'm adorable!" I like him.
Anyway!
Here's the white sauce pizza:
The sauce was great, and involved things like white wine, garlic, oregano, and onion powder.
Jonathan here looks...tired...yeah, "tired."
The red pizza construction starts:
And just like that! Everything's done!
Eventually, we had the dessert pizza, which was delicious.
But, finally! The project! I was inspired by a screensaver, which showed a spinning, floating 3D Sierpinksi triangle, or "Sierpinski pyramid":
(The one on the left. The one on the right is an "inverse Sierpinski pyramid.")
Unfortunately, as you can see, each pyramid meets another at the corners of the pyramid, rather than at the faces. This makes the construction of it more challenging, because you can't very well use wood glue. Don't worry, I have plans. Great plans. Wonderful plans! Plans that I have no idea if they'll work!
So, as a warm-up, I decided to build a 3D Menger sponge:
Both of these fractal objects are described by their "level." In the above image, the objects from left to right are levels 1–4.
The caveat to this endeavor is that I wanted to make the model entirely out of the highest-level cubes. The number of cubes goes like this:
- Level 1
- 1 block
- Level 2
- 20
- Level 3
- 400
- Level 4
- 8,000
- Level 5
- 160,000
I settled on doing a Level 3 sponge. But! In a flash of insight, we decided to drill holes in the middle of each block giving the illusion of it being a Level 4 fractal.
But let me tell you, drilling 3 holes in 400 cubes is not the easiest thing in the world. Here's what 400 3/4" cubes of birch look like:
A letdown? Yeah, maybe.
This is the ideal project for someone who owns a drill press. I do not. So, this past weekend while Jonathan and Anna were gone, I made myself an inverse drill press, which I'm still awfully proud of:
Eh? Eh? Pretty great, right? I would slot a cube in the wood tray and bring it down on the drill, then bring it back up, rotate it 90°, and repeat. The metal lips served to hold the blocks in place. I got pretty quick with it by the end of a half hour or so.
Lucky for all of us, Jonathan in his infinite wisdom borrowed his dad's drill press. See, the only downside to my design was that my corded drill sounds like a very tiny, very angry jet engine. The drill press, on the other hand, sounds like a slightly stuffed-up refrigerator. SO, we switched to that.
We got through them all in about an hour.
As an added twist, I want to stain half of the blocks in a checkerboard pattern. So, in between dinner pizza and dessert pizza, that's what we did!
(While watching MST3K.)
Jonathan noted, "Wow, it looks like a lot of individual spectra." A reference which maybe only
rudybang will appreciate.I also want to poly the unstained blocks, for durability's sake. We started on that, too.
I'm hopeful! The main source of variation in color that you see is due to some blocks being end-grain up. They're the darker ones.
Finally finally, it snowed here last night:
*shiver*
I have a $45 credit on Continental Airlines that has to be used (towards a ticket purchase) by December 16th. I won't be able to use it by then. I think you just have to buy a ticket by then; travel dates can be later.
Could anyone here use it?
Could anyone here use it?
December 8th, 2009
December 7th, 2009
George Sand
(Hug for being smart, independent, and wearing trousers and smoking cigars in the 19th century.)
December 6th, 2009
>>Two eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup regular sugar, 2 sticks softened butter. Fold in 2 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and a couple tablespoons of vanilla. For an extra chocolate jag [recommended--ed.], toss in 3 tablespoons of cocoa. Oh, don't forget 2 cups of chocolate chips. Bake 'em at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.<<
The Cuckoo's Egg, page 136 (footnote).
The Cuckoo's Egg, page 136 (footnote).
December 4th, 2009
There's a sort of fun game called Monopoly City Streets that pairs up Google maps with monopoly.
Basically, you can buy and build on real streets in real towns! And...that's about it, actually. If you go to the website, you can see who (if anyone) owns the street you live on right at this very moment.
A while ago, I bought some streets and built some stuff. After you earn X amount of money, you level up, which means you can build fancier buildings. I was hoping to earn enough money to get to the top level, but when I went to the website just now, I found out that the game is ending on December 9. Oh well.
Here's a list of the streets I own:
Unfortunately, I got a bit screwed on Highland Park. Once you own more than 6 roads, they start taxing your earnings at 3% per additional road, or something. While Highland in reality has 1-2 roads threading through it, they for some reason had only one road, and the paths listed. So, instead of 1-2 roads, I have 5...things...in there, one of which is too small to even build on! So silly.
Anyway, now you know. And,
Basically, you can buy and build on real streets in real towns! And...that's about it, actually. If you go to the website, you can see who (if anyone) owns the street you live on right at this very moment.
A while ago, I bought some streets and built some stuff. After you earn X amount of money, you level up, which means you can build fancier buildings. I was hoping to earn enough money to get to the top level, but when I went to the website just now, I found out that the game is ending on December 9. Oh well.
Here's a list of the streets I own:
- My parents' street (Hi Mom! Got you a fancy high rise! And a spaceship for Pop!)
- The apartment complex lowgee used to live in.
- ALL OF HIGHLAND PARK!
Unfortunately, I got a bit screwed on Highland Park. Once you own more than 6 roads, they start taxing your earnings at 3% per additional road, or something. While Highland in reality has 1-2 roads threading through it, they for some reason had only one road, and the paths listed. So, instead of 1-2 roads, I have 5...things...in there, one of which is too small to even build on! So silly.
Anyway, now you know. And,
December 2nd, 2009
I forgot to mention: the potatoes in that photo were actual potatoes!
Well, they were actual instant potatoes.
So, I guess they were actual imitation potato. Product.
...
Anyway, just thought you should know.
Oh, and the "butter" was cheese! Delicious, delicious cheddar cheese. We salvaged the potatoes which is why the bowl is empty in the denouement photos.
Well, they were actual instant potatoes.
So, I guess they were actual imitation potato. Product.
...
Anyway, just thought you should know.
Oh, and the "butter" was cheese! Delicious, delicious cheddar cheese. We salvaged the potatoes which is why the bowl is empty in the denouement photos.
I pray there's a special place in the afterlife for movie reviewers who use awful puns when giving bad reviews. It's like the real-world equivalent of Horatio Caine.
Inspired by Rudy's post in which he lists his last 10 Wikipedia visits, I present you with my last ten visits, each visit grouped together:
1. Alaska Purchase: Have you heard the latest stupidity from Palin's book?
2. List of fallacies / (fallacies): internet arguing is fun!
3. List of law schools in the United States: just curious. There are a lot!
4. Intervalometer: I really wish I could do time-lapse photography, but apparently my camera is too old for this to be feasible. On the bright side, if I get a newer one I can apparently hack the firmware to do all sorts of neat stuff!
5. Tilt-shift photography / Miniature faking: Of course.
6. Buckyball / Truncated icosahedron / (lots of others): This has to do with projects Jonathan's been working on. More later.
7. Imogen Heap / MIKA / Mika (singer): This song has been playing on the radio a lot lately. I liked the female vocal sample but thought it was Ciara or something. Then up pops this cool song on Pandora called Hide and Seek (the sampled part starts at 2:57) by someone named Imogen Heap. Turns out, that's the song that's sampled here! So I got addicted to Imogen Heap for a bit.
8. Cattle / Cow / Brownvieh / Caul/Liberace: I'm not sure which of these I actually visited first, but turns out Liberace was "born in the caul," meaning born with the amniotic sac still fully intact. I was also curious about how much cows weigh.
9. House / House (TV series): I like house!
10. Kilroy / Dennis DeYoung / Styx (band) / Mr. Roboto / Kilroy Was Here (album): I got this album at Goodwill. The album is a "rock opera/concept album." It was released with a short film of the same name.
1. Alaska Purchase: Have you heard the latest stupidity from Palin's book?
2. List of fallacies / (fallacies): internet arguing is fun!
3. List of law schools in the United States: just curious. There are a lot!
4. Intervalometer: I really wish I could do time-lapse photography, but apparently my camera is too old for this to be feasible. On the bright side, if I get a newer one I can apparently hack the firmware to do all sorts of neat stuff!
5. Tilt-shift photography / Miniature faking: Of course.
6. Buckyball / Truncated icosahedron / (lots of others): This has to do with projects Jonathan's been working on. More later.
7. Imogen Heap / MIKA / Mika (singer): This song has been playing on the radio a lot lately. I liked the female vocal sample but thought it was Ciara or something. Then up pops this cool song on Pandora called Hide and Seek (the sampled part starts at 2:57) by someone named Imogen Heap. Turns out, that's the song that's sampled here! So I got addicted to Imogen Heap for a bit.
8. Cattle / Cow / Brownvieh / Caul/Liberace: I'm not sure which of these I actually visited first, but turns out Liberace was "born in the caul," meaning born with the amniotic sac still fully intact. I was also curious about how much cows weigh.
9. House / House (TV series): I like house!
10. Kilroy / Dennis DeYoung / Styx (band) / Mr. Roboto / Kilroy Was Here (album): I got this album at Goodwill. The album is a "rock opera/concept album." It was released with a short film of the same name.
December 1st, 2009
It snowed last night! Mostly all gone, now.
Mixed feelings about this. :/
Mixed feelings about this. :/
November 30th, 2009
http://www.yooouuutuuube.com/v/?row
Yooouuutuuube.com lets you do this with a youtube video. Didn't work for me on this one; maybe it only works with some videos?
Yooouuutuuube.com lets you do this with a youtube video. Didn't work for me on this one; maybe it only works with some videos?
November 29th, 2009
I go to Goodwill every Sunday to peruse their records and whatnot. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a copy of John Hersey's Hiroshima, a collection of anecdotes relating to the bombing of Hiroshima. I'd never seen or heard of the book before, but it seemed like it might be interesting (I haven't read it yet).
Just now I read a post on Boing Boing in which they mention an international scifi fund. The fund is currently auctioning off two books: a first-edition copy of 1984 and...a copy of John Hersey's Hiroshima.
Huh.
Just now I read a post on Boing Boing in which they mention an international scifi fund. The fund is currently auctioning off two books: a first-edition copy of 1984 and...a copy of John Hersey's Hiroshima.
Huh.
November 27th, 2009
>> Our airplanes hadn't advanced enough to go nonstop from New York [to Paris], so every flight went from La Guardia Airport at New York, to Gander in Newfoundland, then Shannon, Ireland, where we always stopped for breakfast—all the passengers and crew would go to the airport restaurant for the standard breakfast of porridge, steak and eggs, Irish bread and wonderful strawberry jam. It was a happy hour, with the few passengers—thirty was a big load—and crew all jovial and in a good mood with the ocean behind them and now only a couple of hours left to Paris. <<
Bob Buck, North star over my shoulder, p 290.
Bob Buck, North star over my shoulder, p 290.
You hear about the couple that crashed a dinner at the White House on Tuesday? This article has a quote from the couple's lawyer:
I can't imagine him taking the "but they successfully duped them!" line of argument into court.
The Salahis lawyer, Paul Gardner, posted a comment on their Facebook page saying, "My clients were cleared by the White House, to be there."This seems like a strange thing for a lawyer to be saying. They tricked a security guard into letting them in, right? Fraud is still fraud even if—especially if—it's successful.
I can't imagine him taking the "but they successfully duped them!" line of argument into court.
You couldn't ask for a more perfect autumn day for a holiday, cool and breezy with the cold winter sun shining down brightly at high angles through the oak canopy, the streets devoid of all traffic and startlingly silent, some houses with twelve cars parked in front and the others with none. I took the little dog on a long holiday romp, running through the empty streets and chasing squirrels up the driveways towards columned southern mansions, spanish moss draped in front. Sara prepared a great little thanksgiving for us: me and her and ryan, ryan's dad, Azedah and Rob. Turkey and stuffing and potatoes and cranberry sauce. Saffron rice from azi, curry chicken from Rob. Pumpkin and mint-chocolate pies, Swiss chocolate and Belgian beer.
Now just me & the little dog back at home, drinking hot green tea.
Now just me & the little dog back at home, drinking hot green tea.
I spent my Thanksgiving holiday at Jonathan's folks' house, along with Anna and Martin. Very delicious! Unfortunately, Anna had to go to work at 3pm, so shortly after the meal at noon, she took off. Jonathan, Martin, and I hung around longer, mostly playing his dad's playstation. :)
NOTE: another installment of that thing is on its way!
NOTE: another installment of that thing is on its way!