My Blog

Burning again...

nymlet — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:46:43 GMT

My brother and I are going to Burning Man again this year... I think it will be my 7th year? We're doing an art project too that I think is going to blow your minds, but you won't see it on the playa. That's all I'll say about it for now ;-) We need to figure out our camp situation though. I really haven't planned anything beyond the project out yet. I'm almost thinking about doing walk-in camping to change my experience drastically.

18" of Love

nymlet — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51:16 GMT

I got my hair cut yesterday, after three years of growing it out. It feels so great!! Thanks to Porter for recommending someone for me. The hair is going to http://www.locksoflove.org/ To see my new haircut, click here > http://flickr.com/photos/nym/sets/72157605939265746/

New Gig?

nymlet — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:35:14 GMT

I've put in my resignation, and I plan to leave my R&D management / programming job at Cars.com at the end of April. I don't have a new gig yet, but I'm resolved to find something that truly helps people, be it solving problems, helping disasters, sifting through masses of information, whatever. I know I want to be involved with developing products that are powerful, and that make people realize that what they're using is truly useful. I know I get that feeling when I use flickr, Facebook Causes, Remember the Milk, and especially Stickk.com (try it if you haven't!). At one point I had the opportunity to build a tool to help people identify roadside bombs or unexploded ordinance, and I kick myself for not dropping everything and making it happen. I'll be damned if I can't do something serious in the next six months, and if you have any bright ideas on who to talk to or where to dig, please let me know. I'm keeping my eyes open for something new and special.

I Voted.

nymlet — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:51:00 GMT

You too can affect change. Plus you'll get a sticker.

Left Topanga

nymlet — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:07:49 GMT

Didn't want to stick around for mandatory evacuations. In Woodland Hills now. Hope to go home soon.

Looking for Personal Trainer

nymlet — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:16:47 GMT

Know someone who is a good personal trainer in Santa Monica or Topanga? I need to start moving my butt again, and it's hard for me to get motivated or make the time. I just need someone to kick my ass in the right direction a bit.

Cake or death? Eddie Izzard Wed 8/1

nymlet — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:17:20 GMT

Who wants to go with me to see Eddie Izzard doing his stand-up act? Tix are $25. 9:00pm, Coronet Theater http://eventful.com/events/E0-001-005432623-8 366 N. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90048 United States (310) 657-7377

Google Takedown / Non Street Panoramas

nymlet — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:34:22 GMT

So Google (respectfully) forced me to take down my program that walked the streets of San Francisco, Street View style. Street View is still really cool, but me and a few friends are thinking about doing panoramas of other places than the street. Here are the places I would like to do: - The Venice boardwalk - 3rd Street Promenade - Trails in Topanga, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego - The Hollywood sign - Catalina Island - Coffee shops - Beaches Where would you like to see panoramas where the GoogleVan wouldn't drive?

Google Takedown

nymlet — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 06:16:24 GMT

Great, Google Legal contacted me today about a program I wrote Saturday night to walk around the streets of San Francisco from Google Street View's perspective. They want me to take it down... they're asking in an incredibly nice way, but it's funny to get this kind of attention. "Your site was brought to my attention by the Google Maps team. As best we can tell (and please tell us if we're wrong), the code you're offering on the site allows yourself and others to scrape images from our new Street View feature. While we're always excited to see developers interested in our services, the scraping of images from Street View is prohibited by our terms of service ( http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/terms_maps.html). We'd respectfully request that you remove the code from your site." Pretty nice for a lawyer huh? My site with the code I wrote: http://igargoyle.com/streetview/

Summer Plans

nymlet — Fri, 04 May 2007 02:45:25 GMT

Over the next few weeks, beyond going crazy at work I am hoping to do the following: Broken Staple BBQ LiB (at least one day) - http://www.lightninginabottle.org/ Singularity (probably just the Friday, possibly part of Saturday) - http://darkskies.vegasartists.com/ MAKE Faire - http://www.makerfaire.com/ Beyond that, I want to go river rafting, backpacking, and swimming at the beach. This summer is going to be awesome!

Living in Topanga now..

nymlet — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:22:53 GMT

I just moved out of my Woodland Hills apartment, and until I move to Santa Monica, I'm staying in Topanga! Ah, mountains :-) If you want to hike with me, give me a shout.

flying the freak flag

nymlet — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:33:17 GMT

I've been so caught up in work and dating that I think I've forgotten to fly my freak flag. I have all these ideas buzzing around my head, but the rat race of life and paying the bills has been winning recently, so the things that i really want to do, like build a flamethrower, make subversive art, and learn how to do costuming, has gone by the wayside. Well... I'm as mad as hell,. and I'm not going to take this anymore!!

Shrieking and ringing and crawling insane

nymlet — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:45:07 GMT

The Cats by H. P. Lovecraft Babels of blocks to the high heavens towering Flames of futility swirling below; Poisonous fungi in brick and stone flowering, Lanterns that shudder and death-lights that glow. Black monstrous bridges across oily rivers, Cobwebs of cable to nameless things spun; Catacomb deeps whose dank chaos delivers Streams of live foetor that rots in the sun. Colour and splendour, disease and decaying, Shrieking and ringing and crawling insane, Rabbles exotic to stranger-gods praying, Jumbles of odour that stifle the brain. Legions of cats from the alleys nocturnal. Howling and lean in the glare of the moon, Screaming the future with mouthings infernal, Yelling the Garden of Pluto's red rune. Tall towers and pyramids ivy'd and crumbling, Bats that swoop low in the weed-cumber'd streets; Bleak Arkham bridges o'er rivers whose rumbling Joins with no voice as the thick horde retreats. Belfries that buckle against the moon totter, Caverns whose mouths are by mosses effac'd, And living to answer the wind and the water, Only the lean cats that howl in the wastes.

Boston Police Blow Up Suspicious Looking Man

nymlet — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:33:03 GMT

AHAHAHAHAHA.... this is great stuff... boston totally puts the error in terror. ________________________________________________________ Boston Police Blow Up Suspicious Looking Man By Brian Briggs Boston, MA – There were more tense moments today after Boston Police were forced to blow up a suspicious looking man near a lamp post. An alert city worker called in the man after noticing that he had been leaning against the lamp post for more than ten minutes. Officer Charlie O'Hara of the bomb squad said, "We got a report of a man loitering in a high-traffic area with a bulky coat and a backpack. We cleared the area, snuck up behind him, attached the explosives and detonated him." Police later learned the man, Evan Johnson, was waiting for his girlfriend, Cindy Collins, who was getting a cappuccino at a nearby Starbucks. His backpack contained books and all that was under his coat was a "Wish you were beer" t-shirt. Collins explained why Johnson was by the lamp post. "There was a long line at Starbucks, and Evan wanted to smoke so he waited outside for me. Next thing I know I look up and I see police blowing him up. I always told him that down jacket made him look puffy." Mr. Johnson is only the latest scare to hit Boston. Last month a marketing stunt by a cartoon show paralyzed the city. Two weeks ago police shut down Boston's largest mall after a teen passed gas in an Abercrombie and Fitch. Just this week police blew up a traffic counting device. "You can never be too careful," said O'Hara. "I'd rather blow up a hundred innocent people if I can prevent another 9/11."

help lou!

nymlet — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:04:00 GMT

i'm sick at home but i urge you to get out and shake your butt in my absence. tonight... evoLOUtion.... info at http://helplou.com/

San Jose for Ruby Conference

nymlet — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:09:48 GMT

I'm going to San Jose for a Ruby on Rails conference (programming, you know, what I do in almost all my waking hours). I'll be there tonight, and tomorrow night if you want to see me. Ruby rocks by the way... kick ass language. As one of my friends put it "It's the first time I've actually enjoyed programming".

Pirrrrrrate Hat

nymlet — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:14:50 GMT

I got a pirate hat today. Going to get my hair braided tonight in black and red, with some beads in it. RRRRRRR.

Starpod Roof

nymlet — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 17:43:06 GMT

Here's a pic of what my starpod's roof looks like. My dad helped me with his drill press, and all the struts are made now! I just have to put the rest together at Jana's house so we can figure out the best way to cover it. I *highly* recommend this structure.

JAY!!!

nymlet — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:11:14 GMT

My brother is so cool. I can't wait to see him in a month for Burning Man. Ladies, watch out.

dad is safe

nymlet — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:37:28 GMT

I got this email last night. "We're fine.. though we can see some of the details of the conflict.. we're on a beach now, with army helicopters going overhead at regular intervals. Yesterday we were swimming (?) in the Dead Sea.. back in England on Friday.. then a conference and up to Arnside again. we're fine, though it is interesting to be here. love t" I feel a lot better just knowing when he'll be out of there and knowing he's ok.

dad in israel

nymlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:46:11 GMT

my dad is in israel, and i'm really stressed out. i can't think right, my body just wants to run. he's ok, but he's trying to go to palestine. someone said to me "well israel is probably safer than lebanon", but somehow that quote doesn't make me feel a whole lot better. the area is at war. STRESS he's in israel because his new wife has a relative somewhere over there. [photo: via AP, "Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border"]

Starplates!

nymlet — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 22:20:04 GMT

Look what I just got in the mail!

GeoWanker Friends

nymlet — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:28:48 GMT

Here's a great picture of my geowanker friends wearing a t-shirt I made for the Where 2.0 digital cartography conference in San Jose. The shirts said: GEOWANKERS we put the 'l' in a/s/l Here's a little bit of background on the term 'a/s/l': --- Age / Sex / Location. The mating call of the barely post-pubescant teenager. Typically the male initiates this signal, as an attempt to attract a female that can give an honest reply to his liking. More often, however, the male is fooled by another male, generally much older, who will impersonate his "dream girl" for his own sick, sadistic pleasure. Horny teenager: "A/S/L?" 50yr old bald, obese guy sitting naked at computer, scratching double chin and eating cheetos: "16/F/hopefully in your bedroom soon ;) " Horny Teenager: "Wanna cyber?!?!" 50yr old dude: "Thought you'd never ask!!!!!" ---- I had no idea how popular the shirts would be. I was giving them away to my friends, but it got away from me. I now have like 10 orders to ship to people. Who would have thought! BTW, one of the guys in that picture is the renound Jullian Cash of burningman photography fame. Here's his website: http://www.juliancash.com/

>H T-Shirt

nymlet — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:20:32 GMT

I made this. Well I made the stencil, but Jana (spacegirl) actually made this one, mine were a lot sloppier. >H means "Greater than human", which is a Transhumanism term for people who want to be better than they already are. Think of the million dollar man. I gave away these for my 500th post on my blog, http://igargoyle.com/, which deals with cyborgs, transhumanism, robots, and wearable computing. Very geeky stuff, I admit.

tribe sluts

nymlet — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 16:51:44 GMT

I keep getting requests from people to be my friend on tribe. The thing is, these are people who I have never met before in my entire life, and I like the fact that I know everyone on my friend list. I've been replying with 'Ask me again when we meet!', but I'm getting annoyed at people's desire to have a huge number next to their name. I actually want to be able to trust someone more when I see on tribe that they're a friend-of-a-friend. Social networks that actually mean somthing. Anyways, that's what I think and I'm sticking to it. Maybe some day I'll create a social network that asks you to write something about everyone who's your friend, or ask them to rate how much trust they would put in that person when they are added as a friend. In the mean time, I'll just keep declining those tribe sluts with my nice "no thanks!" message.