waxing prolix -- defunct

This blog is officially defunct

rotorhead — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:30:41 GMT

Go to my new banner-less blog at http://www.rotorbrain.com/blog/ (rss at http://www.rotorbrain.com/blog/rss.xml) See ya there! P.S. send me your blog and I will add to my blogroll. Thanks!

YUCKO!!!

rotorhead — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:40:04 GMT

I turned off all my ad blocking because I was having trouble with another site. I come back here and there's a BIG UGLY BANNER AD on me blog! Sorry -- I usually never see these! Time to host one my own blog without the obnoxious advertising. BTW: you too can avoid all that crap: Get Firefox, and the Adblock Plus and Customize Google extensions http://www.mozilla.org/download.html https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865 Customize Google is the R0X0RZ! It even stops google tracking and cookies. W00t. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/743

Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn. Damn.

rotorhead — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:54:54 GMT

That was my friend Peter. Bleagh. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/12/BAL1TB0TV.DTL Be careful out there, kids. Oh, and carpe diem.

I can't believe I saved this

rotorhead — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:18:11 GMT

I am so not the ticket-stub-saving kind of guy. Glad I found it: I will donate to the Todd Blair fundraiser.

Self-selection bias

rotorhead — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:02:42 GMT

“Unfortunately, it appears that procrastinators are using my procrastination test to procrastinate, somewhat skewing the results. There is a perverse irony in procrastinating by taking a procrastination test that appeals to people, like reading a time management book while you should be working.” http://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~steel//Procrastinus/measure.php (((I didn't finish. Have to go to work!)))

For reasons I still don't quite understand, they seemed to work

rotorhead — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 04:15:00 GMT

w00t! Thanks to Missy SB for the pix. Apologies to friends because I haven't been a good one: for the last month it's been all robots all the time. I like humans better (which is saying a lot).

Old and out of the way

rotorhead — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 06:58:50 GMT

Yeah yeah yeah, Google Street View, blah blah. Don and I did it first: http://www.fxpal.com/?p=FlyAbout I'm noticing what I hope isn't proof of impending uselessness: my major contribution to technical proceedings recently has been to mutter, "yeah, I did that five years ago..."

"The Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit"

rotorhead — Mon, 07 May 2007 15:41:55 GMT

"Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they're like poison to the filmmaker or artist. They're like a vise grip on creativity. If you're in that grip, you can hardly get out of bed, much less experience the flow of creativity and ideas. You must have clarity to create. You have to be able to catch ideas." David Lynch interview: http://www.utne.com/issues/2007_141/gleanings/12534-1.html

Celebrating Easter by the Bay

rotorhead — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:18:35 GMT

> From: "J.C. aka DougsJokes" <jc+sfcaco@redacted.org> > To: sf-caco@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [sf-caco] Anyone have a spare cross? God I love this place.

Actual J-Pop Song Titles from iTunes

rotorhead — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:26:13 GMT

Tea Time Ska (from the album "Pregnant Fantasy") Laundry Song Where is the Egg Now? I Wanna Be Your Cat Fujiko's Dish-Counting Song Afro Hair - 5.5 Yards Long No, Yes, No! (from the album "Smell Me, Smell My Grandfather"). God I love Japan. (Artist names are in Kanji -- sorry about that).

Did you know...

rotorhead — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:00:25 GMT

... that you can get whippits on Amazon? http://www.amazon.com/ISI-Cream-Whipper-Chargers-84IS/dp/B000638EXQ God I love living in the future. (Also note amusing customer review...) Pedant note: while the spelling "whippet" seems to be common, I still think that's a breed of dog. Anyone have a definitive source?

Go Patti

rotorhead — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:39:10 GMT

Not often that a NYT editorial moves me to tears. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/opinion/12smith.html?ex=1331352000&en=258f2817a39fec96&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Mysteries abound

rotorhead — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:18:15 GMT

WTF is that odd bar-code like thing in the Google search results? (The really annoying thing is that I think I once knew the answer, but have suffered mental link-rot since.)

Recursive frogs

rotorhead — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:14:00 GMT

Son of shameless self-promotion

rotorhead — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:22:44 GMT

I have some of my things up in the window of Millionfishes (at 23rd and Bryant in the Mission). Stop by if you're in the hood.

Shameless self-promotion

rotorhead — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:23:05 GMT

I'm giving a talk at Yahoo! Research Berkeley on Friday January 12: http://upcoming.org/event/133461/

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3

rotorhead — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:05:00 GMT

Why don't you get back into bed x 10 Reasons to be cheerful part 3 1 2 3 Summer, Buddy Holly, the working folly Good golly Miss Molly and boats Hammersmith Palais, the Bolshoi Ballet Jump back in the alley and nanny goats 18-wheeler Scammels, Domenecker camels All other mammals plus equal votes Seeing Piccadilly, Fanny Smith and Willy Being rather silly, and porridge oats A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it You're welcome, we can spare it - yellow socks Too short to be haughty, too nutty to be naughty Going on 40 - no electric shocks The juice of the carrot, the smile of the parrot A little drop of claret - anything that rocks Elvis and Scotty, days when I ain't spotty, Sitting on the potty - curing smallpox Reasons to be cheerful part 3 Reasons to be cheerful part 3 Reasons to be cheerful part 3 Reasons to be cheerful part 3 1 2 3 Reasons to be cheerful part 3 Health service glasses Gigolos and brasses round or skinny bottoms Take your mum to paris lighting up the chalice wee willy harris Bantu Stephen Biko, listening to Rico Harpo, Groucho, Chico Cheddar cheese and pickle, the Vincent motorsickle Slap and tickle Woody Allen, Dali, Dimitri and Pasquale balabalabala and Volare Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy Being in my nuddy Saying hokey-dokey, singalonga Smokey Coming out of chokey John Coltrane's soprano, Adi Celentano Bonar Colleano Ian Dury ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gloss (from jtf) Hammersmith Palais -- famous London dance hall "Jump back in the alley" -- from the Little Richard song "Tutti Frutti" "18-wheeler Scammels" -- British mfr of heavy trucks "Domenecker camels" -- I think this is "Dominican Camels," i.e. Caribbean cigarettes, i.e. spliffs "Fanny Smith and Willy" -- British slang for F & M genitalia "spotty" -- British slang for the condition of having zits "Health service glasses" -- famously unfashionable heavy plastic frames at one time provided free by the British National Health Service. (see pic http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/multimedia/sixties/index_item_4.shtml) "brasses" -- "brass" is Cockney rhyming slang for prostitute (rhymes/w "brass flute") "lighting up the chalice" -- smoking a bong "wee willy harris" -- British entertainer "Rico" -- trombone player Rico Rodriguez famous for reggae sessions "Slap and tickle" -- British expression for foreplay, sex Dimitri and Pasquale -- Composer Shostakovitch and baritone Amato? balabalabala and Volare -- lyrics from songs (La Bamba, Nel blu dipinto di blu) nuddy -- nude Smokey -- Robinson, natch chokey -- prison John Coltrane's soprano -- saxophone Adi Celentano -- Italian Elvis Presley Bonar Colleano -- B movie actor

The best three-word phrase...

rotorhead — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:00:58 GMT

...of my entire blogging career: "gratuitous Muppet whoopee." You will likely want some context for that: http://www.suicidebots.com/2007/01/05/hot-bot-action-fuzzy-version/

IMs of the Ancients

rotorhead — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:58:41 GMT

d: so i was in the dance cafe q: mmm? d: and the server asked me what my ++ungood; t-shirt meant d: and i said "it's double-plus ungood. you know, like in 1984" d: and she said "Oh, that's before my time. I was only born in 1986" q: WE ARE OLD q: AND WELL READ http://ptang.livejournal.com/8321.html

amorous material

rotorhead — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 22:37:12 GMT

"To begin with, then, this world, this extra-ordinary universe in which we live and of which we are made, is material; and it is amorous by nature. Matter rejoices in matter, and each atom of it falls in love with other atoms and delights to join up with them to form complex and even more delightful structures." -- Philip Pullman on William Blake http://www.newstatesman.com/200612180060

Happy, um, Holidays everyone!

rotorhead — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:13:32 GMT

http://www.edge.org/documents/xmas06_index.html (Sorry Karen -- I'll say "HH" as long as it annoys some right-wing culture warrior someplace. No intent to annoy you!)

Men of Substance and Style

rotorhead — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:19:01 GMT

http://www.allynscura.com/menofsubstanceandstyle.htm Right on. Except maybe Johnny Depp. He's a little insubstantial. And I bet he's 20/20.

What today was like

rotorhead — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:39:47 GMT

fd = open("/dev/ttyAM1",O_RDWR); // Full duplex (don't float TX!) mcr = AUTO485FD; ioctl (fd, TIOC_SBCS485, &mcr); tcgetattr( fd, &my_termios ); // DMX spec is 250000, Hope this works... my_termios.c_cflag |= B230400; tcsetattr( fd, TCSANOW, &my_termios ); tcgetattr( fd, &new_termios ); if ( memcmp( &my_termios, &new_termios, sizeof( my_termios )) != 0 ) { /* do some error handling */ perror("/dev/ttyAM1"); } Ugh. But when it works, it's going to be awesome.

Waiting for Goofy

rotorhead — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 19:20:33 GMT

"... but even a trip [to Disneyland] left a definite dent in the spirits. Standing in the rain on Main Street, grimly biding one's time in the hope of a high-five with Goofy; is there a more foolproof way to break the spirit of a man? I would have had more fun waiting for Godot." -Adam Lane in the New Yorker.

Slow around here...

rotorhead — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 05:42:13 GMT

Yes, a tad slow. I'm using most of my blog juice over at SuicideBots because Dave and Simone are in that Vienna for roboexotica. Check it out: I'm having what feels like a decent robot run. http://www.suicidebots.com/