ianwsmith

Blue Mars

2008-11-20T23:31:35Z

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found massive water-ice glaciers in the Hellas Basin

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/news/mro-20081120.html

I'll put down money on my waterfront property now before the rush. A couple dozen acres, just outside Odessa.

Beware baby Utahraptors

2008-11-01T15:11:07Z

They'll eat 'ya just as soon as look at 'ya.

I would like to ask those of you in Minnesota. . .

2008-10-18T12:44:31Z

And I know you're out there, 2 questions:

1. A number of new polls are causing Fivethirtyeight to put the senate election in the Democratic column, showing Franken just barely ahead. What's the feeling on the ground there? Can Franken really win?

2. If he does, do you think that he would actually be a good Senator, or is this another Jesse Ventura moment? (not comparing Ventura and Franken, but wondering what your feelings on Franken are after seeing him as a candidate instead of a comedian and author)

5 (3). Who the heck is this wingnut?

Does she represent you? I didn't think so. So, just FYI and all, you can contribute to her opponent here.

LolMcCain

2008-10-16T19:42:03Z

I maded it.

Watch this:

2008-10-16T17:39:06Z

Just one more reason why we can't let the codger and the wingnut into the White House. This is extremely powerful. This should be seen by everyone who is still a fence-sitter.

Yet another way to get out of the foreign-oil trap

2008-10-16T03:19:36Z

I like windmills. . . .

New boss, part II

2008-10-15T23:37:05Z

So I had my meeting with my new boss today.

The good:
1. He's not obviously insane (in a bad way)
2. He's overseen IT departments before
3. He doesn't have any desire to be in charge of IT in particular
4. He seems to respect my opinions
5. He says he's a hands-off manager
6. He's cool with me working from home

The bad:

1. I never got a chance to ask for a raise
2. I still don't know what's supposed to be happening with the department.

I'm supposed to be sending him a short summary of where I see myself going in the company.

On the whole, that went way better than I was expecting it to.

How did I miss this??

2008-10-11T13:42:46Z

I am shocked and appalled that I somehow missed this news item in the midst of all the political fray. On September 28th SpaceX successfully launched the 4th flight of Falcon 1 into orbit from the Kwajalein Atoll in the pacific, making them the first ever commercial liquid-fueled rocket to achieve orbit. This is not a showpiece rocket like SS1, but a real launcher capable of sending microsats into orbit. (440Kg to 185Km circular orbit, according to the website)

See the video here

Go baby go!

HUGE props to The team at SpaceX on this history-making flight!

SpaceX is scheduled to launch the maiden flight of the Falcon 9, capable of carrying cargo and eventually crew to the ISS sometime in Q1 2009.

Mail Goggles?

2008-10-07T22:23:01Z

Gmail's new Mail Goggles

This is amusing. A feature that makes you solve math problems in a certain amount of time before sending mail to stop you from e-mailing while drunk.

It's interesting to ponder the fact that this is basically a wetware-targeted version of hashcash, imposing a computational barrier to sending mail.

I can't help but think that this would be a good way to make people better at math. Turn it on for all e-mail systems everywhere. Make the math problems progressively harder with each e-mail sent throughout the day, resetting every 24 hours.

Might be a good way to increase the overall signal/noise ratio of the internet.

Race report

2008-10-06T21:12:53Z

Went out racing with the Sailing club yesterday, something that I've been trying to do regularly to make my membership dues pay, and also learn more about sailing than I think I could get in a class at this point. I've been going out since about the beginning of August.

After 2 weeks of really light fluky winds on Sundays, we finally got some nice wind, around 6-10 Kts. and were able to to some good races. One from the marina to the south end of Governor's Island, one 'round the buoy race, and a race back to the marina. It was 3 to a boat, so there was plenty to do, and we switched it up between races which meant I got to do foredeck/mainsheet, then trim and fly the spinnaker, then drive. We got first, first, second in the three races. I'm definitely hooked on this.

New job?

2008-10-03T16:42:58Z

So....

Out of the blue, I get an e-mail today from our new CFO. I quote:

"As you now undoubtedly know, has made some changes and your function now reports to me."

Now first off, This was a total surprise to me. So I'm not really getting the "As you undoubtedly know" bit. What, do they think decisions that get made behind closed boardroom doors somehow propagate out to the rest of the company by osmosis? Second, I'm not sure when I became a 'function'. Or, at least, if we're talking about functions, shouldn't that cut both ways? "Your function now reports to my function. My function would like to sit down with your function next week to discuss it". But semantics and professional courtesy aside, what does this mean for me?

It seems that our current CIO has been relegated to application development (not a bad decision, since that's where he has background, and what he pays attention to) and I am now reporting to the CFO directly. No-one has said 'CIO' to me yet, but it seems like that's a good enough description of the role I'll be in - we'll see when I meet with him next week.

What do the republicans have against bears?

2008-09-27T04:32:31Z

First it's Palin and her anti-polar bear stance, now McCain thinks bear DNA studies are the root of the financial crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE67hFlmcZc

Maybe they're taking a page from Colbert. They might not realize that he's kidding.

How to ask good questions

2008-09-05T23:48:57Z

I sent this chestnut to my department yesterday after becoming really frustrated with people expecting me to do their jobs for them. Perhaps a bit too prickly?

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Sent me off with a bang they did, yep. . .

2008-09-05T23:37:48Z

So there was this bomb scare on a train right across from my office this afternoon, with a woman in Florida calling the police to inform them that her Ex might have shipped her a bomb. This shut down our street at 4:30, and it was hell getting out.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2008/09/train_with_suspected_bomb_stop.html

This was particularly interesting to me in the context that this was the day that I packed up all my stuff to transfer from my "I work from home a lot but I still have an office" mode to my "I am a full time teleworker" mode. I have to say that I will not miss 7777 Westside Avenue. I will miss seeing the people there a bit, but as I will probably be going there at least once a week, it's really not that much of a transition. I actually expected it to be more difficult to pack up my things, since I have worked in that building since January 1999, but I guess my summer of working primarily from PRG Hightstown eased the transition quite a bit.

05/01/08

2008-05-01T11:49:08Z

Happy first of may everyone. :-)

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/First%20of%20May

NSFW, btw.

Dear E-ZPassNY: Fuck you.

2008-03-26T22:34:18Z

I received a letter the other day from the New York State Thruway Authority, informing me that my account was being suspended for 60 days because I went through a toll plaza at 24 mph. That's it, no warning, just goodbye, fuck you, come crawling back to us in 60 days.

Anyway, I called the E-ZPassNY service center today and told them they could take their little plastic tags, break them into little sharp pieces, and shove them in their collective oubliettes.

Then I opened an account with EZpass NJ :P

I wonder how many other people are getting these letters - it would seem to me that everyone with an ezpass would have their account suspended by now if this was enforced non-selectively.

Oh, and FYI, while you can sign up for EZPass via the web, the only way to terminate your account is via certified mail.

Just in case you're looking for that perfect valentine. . .

2008-02-13T14:24:01Z

http://www.carded.tv/occasions/valentines_day/

:)

Thanks to Guiness_Duck

2008-02-13T13:12:48Z

94%DRUNKARD

My company is looking for a dev team leader

2008-01-18T14:24:21Z

My company, Production Resource Group, is looking to hire a development team leader to hire and manage a team of 3-5 developers. The initial project will be converting our current ERP system from Delphi 3 to a modern version, and migrating the DB from Oracle 7.3 to 9i or greater. when the project is over the job will be heading up the (existing) Application Development group, directly reporting to the CIO, and would be in charge of all application code maintenence, new features, systems, etc. the company is expanding, so there will not be boredom.

Useful but not necessarily required skills:
Oracle Database Admin/development
Delphi or other Pascal-like language
Windows UI programming
Enterprise software development experience
Project management experience
General geekery

The position could be out of any of PRG's offices, we are not picky about location. this would include the NY Metro area (including an office in the hudson valley), LA, Las Vegas, Dallas, Orlando, Nashville, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, and Denver in the US. For the right candidate, this could also be a work-from-home position with semi-regular trips to wherever the rest of the team is.

Salary range is currently centered at $90k, I think they will go (a lot) higher for the right skills.

This would be a counterpart position to me, as I head up the infrastructure group, so someone who can get along with opinionated geeks would be a plus ;-)

Please pass this along to anyone who you think would have interest, thanks!

Display your Internet Feline Meta-Atheism!

2008-01-15T05:40:57Z

So. . .

Hilary sends me a link to the lolcat bible last night, where I come across the meme of the Ceiling Cat, which leads me to create this Shirt, Which still has me chuckling. And now, through the magic of Inter-tubes, you can have one of your very own! Cool!

Baby Cuteness

2008-01-14T13:45:46Z

So I'm in the shower this morning, and Benjamin runs in with his Goodnight Moon board-book yelling "Daddy, Daddy!", slaps it up against the glass, looks up at me with the cutest look you ever saw, and says "Again, puh-pease!"

"Maybe mommy will read that to you, boo"

"No mommy."

"Daddy's in the shower. It's wet in here. Daddy will read it to you when he gets out. Can you be a patient boy, and read it to yourself?"

"Yee-ahh!"

And runs off and reads it himself.

Hee!

Not too close

2008-01-06T18:26:15Z

88% Chris Dodd
86% Barack Obama
85% Mike Gravel
85% John Edwards
83% Joe Biden
83% Dennis Kucinich
83% Hillary Clinton
74% Bill Richardson
41% Rudy Giuliani
31% John McCain
23% Ron Paul
22% Mike Huckabee
22% Tom Tancredo
21% Mitt Romney
11% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

One major gap in the issues in this campaign:

What about the federal governments' support for basic research, and turning around the huge interference in the peer-review process that has been perpetrated by the current administration?

My healthcare adventure of the day

2008-01-05T21:05:09Z

I bought myself 17 shiny new stitches today. Whee!

This morning, between morning coffee and breakfast, I was playing with Benjamin, swinging him around and making him laugh when I lost my balance and crashed onto the glass-topped coffee table. In order to keep Benjamin safe, I took the impact on my knee and right hand, shattering the coffee table top, and rolled off to the left, ending up on my back on the floor with Benjamin held above me. The good news is that Benjamin got only a small scratch on his right arm. I, unfortunately, seem to have decided that my patella wasn't getting nearly enough sun, and remedied that with a large horseshoe-shaped laceration that flapped all the meat off of my right knee.

After bandaging it up we called the doctor, not wanting to go to the emergency room if we didn't need to. This turned out to be a mistake, as they took one look at the injury and said that they weren't equipped to handle it. They referred me to the urgent care clinic at Princeton, where I was treated by Dr. Cole, a retired cardiac surgeon who no longer does bypasses and such because he can't afford the malpractice insurance. So I ended up having my knee sewn up by a heart surgeon, and I feel quite lucky to have had his expert hands on the needle, as I had no idea how bad the cut was until I got there and he started poking around inside my knee.

Unfortunately, my primary care doctor's office had not given me a written referral, so I had to pay out of pocket. $550. (ka-ching!)

Not that I'm complaining and I would have gladly paid twice as much. Hey, I even got souvenirs to take home out of the deal! the 3 surgical-steel clamps and pincer-looking arrangements that they use to do the stitching alone apparently cost the Doctor $80, and must be discarded after a single use. No autoclave or sterilization procedures allowed. Dr. Cole gave them to me (after washing them, of course) and said they were great for getting the fleas off the cat, or removing splinters, and that he hated to waste them. Ha!

FOIA, now with extra F!

2008-01-05T01:10:23Z

Did any news media report on this other than C-SPAN??

The 'President' has signed into law S. 2488: OPEN Government Act of 2007, introduced by Pat Leahy

This law seems to be a Good Thing(tm) and very interestingly makes a point of defining "news media" with an eye toward freelance, independent, and online journalists. also puts some more backbone into FOIA, and requires strict timelines for responding to FOIA requests.

They might actually be doing some work in Washington. Who knew?

Barack Obama Wins Iowa

2008-01-04T02:43:11Z

Senator Barack Obama : 36.70%
Senator John Edwards : 30.19%
Senator Hillary Clinton : 30.03%
Governor Bill Richardson : 2.02%
Senator Joe Biden : 0.93%
Uncommitted : 0.11%
Senator Chris Dodd : 0.03%
Precincts Reporting: 1507 of 1781
(Percentages are State Delegate Equivalents.)

http://www.iowacaucusresults.com/