Posts

Posted on

Events Database and RSS

Just wrapped up a long-simmering project to replace the J-School’s Events listings with a home-brew PHP/MySQL system which allows events staff to publish events (duh), centralize ticket and reservation info, generate announcement email, and separate public and private events between our public site and the intranet.

With that launched, today wrote a script to generate an Events RSS feed. Until now, all the RSS we’ve published has been MT-generated; this is the first time I’ve cooked it myself.

Maybe we’ll get to a redesign sometime in 2008.

Music: David Bowie :: Queen Bitch
Posted on

Skull and Bones

In October, 60 Minutes investigated the ultimate old boys network Skull and Bones, which raises about 15 Yale playahs per year into its innermost cabal. The “Bonesmen” ultimately usher one another into positions of power in America – presidents, spies, Supreme Court Justices. George Bush is a Bonesman. But then, so is Senator Kerry. “President Bush has tapped five fellow Bonesmen to join his administration.” The group is cloaked in the utmost secrecy, and members won’t talk about its workings even to their closest confidantes. Or at least they never did until 60 Minutes got a bunch of the old boys talking.

Correction: Actually, Alexandra Robins got the Skull folks talking. 60 Minutes just reports here.

Thanks rinchen.

Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan :: Must Clander
Posted on

mfop2

nutsack_rat One of Miles’ toys (a rat puppet that ducks down into a conical hiding place via attached dowel). First image ever shot with the new phonecam. Posted to MT via mfop2. Great set of scripts, and really responsive, generous developer, but I’d rather not rely on an external service; would like to run the image receiving module on my own server. Word is that MT Pro will have moblogging ability, but we wait …. Images from the phonecam look pretty good on the phonescreen, not so hot on the computer until sized down. A small dose of gaussian blur helps to smooth out the artifacts.

Music: Erik Satie :: Choral
Posted on

Aerogel

NASA’s been messing with an ephemeral substance called Aerogel: 99.98% air, and virtually impervious to heat. The pictures seem almost impossible. They’ll be using it to grab interstellar particles moving 6x faster than a bullet without damaging them via either impact or heat.

Via Thornography.

Music: Brian Eno :: Shadow
Posted on

P-Card

I have been authorized to have my own University credit card (called a P-Card, P is for procurement), so I can do my own purchasing of software, domains, misc hardware, etc. That’s wonderful. But here’s the “Brazil” bit: Before they’ll issue it, I have to attend a three-hour training seminar. Three hours to learn how to… what? Shop responsibly? Pay off my monthly balance? This is so typical of the red tape and “hurry up and wait” m.o. of the UC system (which is only partially govt). I am so looking forward to tomorrow. I’d rather have my colon cleansed.

Music: Albert Marcoeur :: C’est Rat , C’est Rat
Posted on

Freedom From Choice

Decided finally to stop being a total phone luddite. A and I currently share one phone, with an emergency-only calling plan. Anything over 15 minutes / month and we pay through the nose. We’re going to get a pair of phones that we will actually carry around and use, and a plan with real, usable minutes.

Interested in good reception / coverage, bluetooth / Mac sync compatibility, small form factor, and a built-in camera. Turns out that’s a bit like a quest for the holy grail. Three major transmission technologies, four or five major carriers, dozens of this-and-that features, and hundreds of phones to choose from. Overall, found the shopping experience totally overwhelming. An embarrassment of riches.

“Freedom from choice / is what you want

Freedom of choice / is what you got”
–Devo

Although Bluetooth / Mac sync sounds attractive at first, I think that’s probably the feature I can most easily dispense with. It’s the wee camera that I really want :) And after palming a bunch of phones, have to admit I’m really into the idea of very small, unobtrusive, lozenge-like. Samsung E715 is at the top of my list as of right now. Is T-Mobile a decent network in the Bay Area?

Speaking of phones, went to see Monster with Amy the other day (disturbing, intense) and the woman sitting next to us not only failed to turn her phone off when the movie started, she actually answered it! She sat there talking on her phone right next to us. Amy tapped her arm and asked her to pipe down. When she didn’t I shot her a look and a hushed epithet. For this she flipped us the bird. What goes on in people’s heads? Seriously messed up, dude.

Update: Finally decided on a pair of LG VX6000 camera phones on the Verizon network. Details in the comments.

Music: Will Oldham :: Let The Wires Ring
Posted on

Hair On Your Own Back

I like the spams where they use banal or left-field subject lines to fool you into reading the spew. I’ve been saving some of them up. In the past week:

“Are you a junky?” = Viagra

“Do you want a bagel?” = Get plump, sexy lips in under 30 days

“Monotheism” = A harder, longer man-thing

“The pre-storm darkness” = Free cable TV

Dyslexic tendencies, sometimes with humorous consequences. Just scanning the spam box and saw one that I was sure read “Get hair on your own back!” Upon closer look, turned out to be: “Get your own hair back.”

Music: Steve Hillage :: Om Nama Shivaya
Posted on

Can’t Buy Me Airtime

MoveOn raised the $1.6 million it needed to get an anti-Bush spot aired during the Superbowl, only to be turned away at the gate. CBS has rejected the winning ad on the supposed grounds that they don’t do ideology, only product. Although exceptions are being made to air anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. This isn’t the first time money hasn’t been able to buy commercial airtime to express political opinions:

In 1997, anti-consumerist activist Kalle Lasn was rejected when he tried to buy a Thanksgiving Day commercial promoting “Buy Nothing Day,” his anti-shopping initiative. Last year, MTV refused to run an antiwar ad directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple. This year, CBS also turned down a Super Bowl spot that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tried to buy for $2 million.

We so seldom see money not talk. But some forces are even stronger…

Music: John Renbourn :: Sweet Potato
Posted on

Busy Hands

Just got a call from Amy… she was working at the keyboard with 15-month-old Miles at her side, when she looked down to see that he had opened up the case of her Mac and was sitting with the side panel in his lap, hands busy with all the pretty parts inside… while it was running! Now we’re going to have to hermetically seal the Macs. This boy… I swear he’ll be building satellites by age 7.

Music: Billy Strayhorn :: Halfway to Dawn
Posted on

-rw——-

Another gotcha when migrating from apache 1.x to 2.x: The included htpasswd command will generate an .htpasswd with no group or world read bits: -rw-------. You will of course not notice this for a very long time, though it will seem obvious in retrospect. When your .htaccess auth doesn’t work, you will think the .htaccess syntax has changed, but not be able to figure out where. It hasn’t. But the Apache 2 docs don’t mention jack.

Music: The Fall :: Spectre Versus Rector