I just read 'On Bullshit', a book written by Harry G. Frankfurt. My copy was given to me by a friend, Michael Petiford. I was intrigued, as Michael doesn't recommend books to me too often.
I was doubly intrigued after seeing the book for the first time. It's an unassuming looking little book, measuring about 3" by 5". It is approximately 70 pages, with a largish size font for the text.
I was triply intrigued by the title, 'On BullShit.' I was hooked. I sat down the next day and read it.
'On Bullshit' presents an academic level exploration on the concept of bullshit. I was originally going to list several of the areas of bullshit exploration, but instead decided to simply encourage any reader that has read an academic paper to read this book. I haven't had so much fun reading a scholarly work in years.
2006-06-17
2006-06-10
Wired 14.06: The Rise of Crowdsourcing
Wired 14.06: The Rise of Crowdsourcing
If you aren't into photography, you probably aren't familier with the world of stock photography. Regardless, the article at Wired is worth a read.
There are lessons to learn here. The mechanics at play are also present in other industries. I can imagine this happening to lots of industries as digitial technology continues to amplify our ability to create and deliver products.
If you aren't into photography, you probably aren't familier with the world of stock photography. Regardless, the article at Wired is worth a read.
There are lessons to learn here. The mechanics at play are also present in other industries. I can imagine this happening to lots of industries as digitial technology continues to amplify our ability to create and deliver products.
2006-03-23
Jacked Up
Jacked Up
Originally uploaded by Aloof Schipperke.
Fun with 1:18 scale. My wife bought me a set of 1:18 scale car mechanic tools.
2006-01-31
PixVue
PixVue is a metadata editor. I found it while searching through dpreview.
It wedges into the right-click menu in the Windows file explorer. From there, you can edit metadata and manage PixVue.
It updates IPTC/XMP data directly. I like this feature. It avoids yet another program-specific database, the usual interoperability problems, and the associated backflips in the workflow.
It also adds a 'My Gallery', where you can drag and drop selected files into virtual folders. I haven't played with this feature, but it looks interesting.
I ran across a few display quirks when updating the explorer window, but this are minor annoyances when compared to how easy it becomes to update image metadata.
You might want to give it a try if you want/need to manage your metadata, particularly keywords.
It wedges into the right-click menu in the Windows file explorer. From there, you can edit metadata and manage PixVue.
It updates IPTC/XMP data directly. I like this feature. It avoids yet another program-specific database, the usual interoperability problems, and the associated backflips in the workflow.
It also adds a 'My Gallery', where you can drag and drop selected files into virtual folders. I haven't played with this feature, but it looks interesting.
I ran across a few display quirks when updating the explorer window, but this are minor annoyances when compared to how easy it becomes to update image metadata.
You might want to give it a try if you want/need to manage your metadata, particularly keywords.
2006-01-28
2006-01-26
2006-01-21
Angel Fish Eggs
Fish Eggs Tight
Originally uploaded by Aloof Schipperke.
The image points to a Flickr page with a pointer to a wider shot.
2006-01-05
RC Car Camera
RC Car Camera 2
Originally uploaded by Aloof Schipperke.
Take a wireless camera, some rubber bands, and some careful engineering - voila!
New Camera
pics-of-new-camera 001
Originally uploaded by Aloof Schipperke.
w00t!
One of the best pictures I've taken with my cheapo HP digital camera: a picture of my new Olympus E-300.
2005-11-22
Storing Internet Media
My nephew David turned me on to Flickr. It works quite nicely for storing, navigating, viewing, and tagging pictures. Flickr is well worth a look.
Flickr only does pictures, so I went hunting for a decent place to store other media types. I was primarily interested in finding liberal storage, minimal upload constraints, a zippy web UI, the ability to feed off rss for pictures from other folks, and a promising API for future projects. Oops - forgot to mention one more critical feature: no cost.
I've found two that look particularly promising. They don't meet all my criteria, but they seem workable enough - we'll see...
Google Video provides storage with a very liberal policy on size and upload frequency (i.e. no real limits). On the minus side, they use a flash player to display videos, making it hard to use them as a storage mechanism.
Ourmedia is another promising candidate. Like Google Video, they are rather liberal in their upload constraints. They use Internet Archive for storage, so I imagine disk space is not a problem. My primary gripe with the site is the painfully slow performance. On the plus side, they also support audio, pictures, and text uploads. They also avoid the use of flash for viewing the videos, so you aren't locked into their web UI.
Flickr only does pictures, so I went hunting for a decent place to store other media types. I was primarily interested in finding liberal storage, minimal upload constraints, a zippy web UI, the ability to feed off rss for pictures from other folks, and a promising API for future projects. Oops - forgot to mention one more critical feature: no cost.
I've found two that look particularly promising. They don't meet all my criteria, but they seem workable enough - we'll see...
Google Video provides storage with a very liberal policy on size and upload frequency (i.e. no real limits). On the minus side, they use a flash player to display videos, making it hard to use them as a storage mechanism.
Ourmedia is another promising candidate. Like Google Video, they are rather liberal in their upload constraints. They use Internet Archive for storage, so I imagine disk space is not a problem. My primary gripe with the site is the painfully slow performance. On the plus side, they also support audio, pictures, and text uploads. They also avoid the use of flash for viewing the videos, so you aren't locked into their web UI.
2005-04-08
2004-12-19
My Schipperke won't play fetch
My schipperke won't play fetch. It's always confused me. She'll follow the ball as I play with the other dogs. She'll even lean towards me as if to anticipate my tossing of the ball. She'll gladly take the ball if it's handed it to her, only to scurry off to a corner, frustrating the other dogs (they dare not take it from her). Don't even think of tossing the ball to her. She'll simply watch it bop her on the nose, look up at you, and walk away with a hurt feeling in her eyes.
This particular quirk has confounded me for some time. She's actually a very playful dog. She likes to be held. She likes to have her belly rubbed. She particularly likes to push back with her feet while on her back, prompting me to grab her feet and rock her back and forth. She loves this game.
Still, it seems like a dog should want to play fetch.
Another quirk, this one more concerning, is that sometimes when I reach to pet her, she hops back, only to come back waiting for me to reach out for her. My first reaction was that this was part of a suspicious streak common in skippies. She does it less often with my wife, so I haven't been too worried.
Well, the other day I figured it out - she likes to play chase - alot! Alot!
I'll reach for her. She'll lurch back. I'll wave me hands in a big scary gesture, and make like a monster, coming after her. The next several minutes are spent taking turns chasing each other around the house, culminating in a huge round of hugs and happy dog.
So the other day, I came up with a new game to play with our dogs. I get the tennis balls out, toss them out across the floor. I play soccer with the other dogs while Zim and play chase with each other. The other dogs are happy as I kick the bright yellow balls around the room, scurrying around to catch the balls. Zim is happy as long I can maintain a good game of chase while all this mayhem is going on.
After a good round of this game, the dogs are happy, and Zim happily comes up and sits next to me on the couch, content that her owner finally figured out how to play a good game of chase.
This particular quirk has confounded me for some time. She's actually a very playful dog. She likes to be held. She likes to have her belly rubbed. She particularly likes to push back with her feet while on her back, prompting me to grab her feet and rock her back and forth. She loves this game.
Still, it seems like a dog should want to play fetch.
Another quirk, this one more concerning, is that sometimes when I reach to pet her, she hops back, only to come back waiting for me to reach out for her. My first reaction was that this was part of a suspicious streak common in skippies. She does it less often with my wife, so I haven't been too worried.
Well, the other day I figured it out - she likes to play chase - alot! Alot!
I'll reach for her. She'll lurch back. I'll wave me hands in a big scary gesture, and make like a monster, coming after her. The next several minutes are spent taking turns chasing each other around the house, culminating in a huge round of hugs and happy dog.
So the other day, I came up with a new game to play with our dogs. I get the tennis balls out, toss them out across the floor. I play soccer with the other dogs while Zim and play chase with each other. The other dogs are happy as I kick the bright yellow balls around the room, scurrying around to catch the balls. Zim is happy as long I can maintain a good game of chase while all this mayhem is going on.
After a good round of this game, the dogs are happy, and Zim happily comes up and sits next to me on the couch, content that her owner finally figured out how to play a good game of chase.
2004-12-08
Humidor Cluster
Humidor Cluster
Not much attention is given to clusters in the case mod world. My own Uberschwein project is a cluster, as is this project. I like how he created a compact package for the cluster. Nice job Jeffrey!
Not much attention is given to clusters in the case mod world. My own Uberschwein project is a cluster, as is this project. I like how he created a compact package for the cluster. Nice job Jeffrey!
2004-12-05
Osmos wheel :: roue orbitale - orbital wheel :: GlobeHolding
Osmos wheel :: roue orbitale - orbital wheel :: GlobeHolding
This is great! Hubless wheels. Just look in the gallery. Nothing else to say.
This is great! Hubless wheels. Just look in the gallery. Nothing else to say.
VGA over Cat5
VGA over CAT5
Ever wanted to use structured wiring for other signals? You can use baluns to do it. This link references a vga balun, but there are others. The connectors referenced here aren't cheap, but sometimes that doesn't matter.
I'm thinking of using something similar at home, but I'll probably be hunting down a way to build them myself.
Ever wanted to use structured wiring for other signals? You can use baluns to do it. This link references a vga balun, but there are others. The connectors referenced here aren't cheap, but sometimes that doesn't matter.
I'm thinking of using something similar at home, but I'll probably be hunting down a way to build them myself.
Virtual Bubblewrap - Pop Now! Pop bubble wrap online - since 1996
Virtual Bubblewrap - Pop Now! Pop bubble wrap online - since 1996
I found this one on boingboing.
Stress relief is an important part of System Administration. Here's an alternative to ballistic techniques. :-)
I found this one on boingboing.
Stress relief is an important part of System Administration. Here's an alternative to ballistic techniques. :-)
2004-12-04
An Introduction to Cluster Ballooning
An Introduction to Cluster Ballooning
I saw this on slashdot.
It only goes to show what you can do with clusters. :-)
I saw this on slashdot.
It only goes to show what you can do with clusters. :-)
2004-12-03
My schipperke - a pretty good picture
schipperke_security.jpg (JPEG Image, 648x487 pixels)
Here's a picture of my schipperke, Zim.
David Monaghan took the picture and did the photo manipulation for the final product.
It's surprising difficult to take good pictures of a schipperke, due to the hair. It's an intensely deep black color, with seemingly no highlights of other colors. Outdoor lighting seems to work better than others. Interestingly, David took the picture using a digital camera set for indoor lighting. The picture came out with a blue tint, but was adjusted in post-production. The final picture still has a slight blue tint, but the subtle tones in the fur are nicely visible.
Here's a picture of my schipperke, Zim.
David Monaghan took the picture and did the photo manipulation for the final product.
It's surprising difficult to take good pictures of a schipperke, due to the hair. It's an intensely deep black color, with seemingly no highlights of other colors. Outdoor lighting seems to work better than others. Interestingly, David took the picture using a digital camera set for indoor lighting. The picture came out with a blue tint, but was adjusted in post-production. The final picture still has a slight blue tint, but the subtle tones in the fur are nicely visible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
