I find the binary finger-counting method to be useful sometimes, but for numbers up to 99, I've always enjoyed this little method my Dad taught me when I was around six. It works kind of like Roman numerals without the IV or IX kind of subtractions:
On your right hand, the fingers represent ones, and the thumb is a five. On the left hand, the fingers are tens, and the thumb is fifty. So when you're counting, it's like this from one to eleven:
1-9: Left Hand: one finger, two fingers, three fingers, four fingers, one thumb, one thumb + one finger, etc. 10: Right Hand: one finger 11: Right Hand: one finger + Left Hand: one finger
I find it useful from time to time when I don't have a pen and paper to make tick marks.
Anyone have a list of papers carrying Opus?
on
The Opus Interview
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· Score: 1
My local paper isn't carrying it, though I can swing by the newsstand later and grab one from somewhere else. I see it's being distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group; is it appearing in the Washington Post? Any other nationally-distributed papers?
I'll agree here... The biggest problem for me was that I've already got two dogs that I have to walk, feed, and teach to defecate properly. I really wanted to enjoy the game, but I just couldn't escape the feeling that I was basically playing with a Tamagotchi when I could be spending more time with the dogs.:)
Just bought LA Story on DVD this weekend. A note to anyone who goes to buy it--the package says there is a Director's Commentary, but it's not actually on the disc.:(
Oh, and in reference to Strange Brew... I picked it up on DVD (only $10 at Best Buy), and not having seen it since the age of 12, I never realized that the entire plot is ripped from Hamlet. It definitely makes for a fun viewing later in life.:)
Fans of WOSAT and the genius of Mike Jittlov know what I'm talking about. Look for an old VHS copy at your local video store, grab a laserdisc off E-Bay, do whatever is necessary to SEE THIS MOVIE!
I remember in high school how there were some kids who would have their papers typed for them by their fathers' secretaries. For a long time, I thought it was truly horrible, and the most degrading thing in the world for the secretary.
Until last year, when my dad's secretary was starting a home business, and he volunteered me to do some brochures for her.
On the more relevant topic about doing tech support for a large, extended family, I have a bit of advice. Find a young cousin, niece/nephew, whatever, that has geek potential. Give that person an old computer, direct them to Slashdot, do whatever is necessary to corrupt them properly. Then start shifting the burden of responsibility.
I wish I had thought of this earlier--I've got a young cousin who's currently taking over some of the duties for me. (I didn't do anything to steer him early on, but I might apply that to some of the other branches of the family.) And it's fun to have another geek in the family for reunions.:)
My own hometown is pretty boring... Memphis -- Memphian. I frequently wonder about cities like Mountain Home or Hot Springs, or an island like Guam, and how those are handled.
You should be able to flesh out your list of states pretty easily, most just add -an to the end of the state name. Alaskan, Hawaiian, etc. Arkansan trips people up a bit, because you pronounce it ar-KAN-san as opposed to how the state is pronounced, AR-kan-saw. (Check the dictionary for the oddballs!)
I always got a kick out of a few English ones, though:
Liverpool -- Liverpudlian
Manchester -- Mancunian
(If I remember correctly, the adjective forms refer back to old Roman names for the towns.)
After seeing lots of beloved books turn into really horrible movies, I did finally come up with a case in which I felt the movie was better than the original book, namely "High Fidelity".
I'm probably going to get flamed to hell for saying that, but since music was such an important part of the story, actually getting to hear it made a big difference. (I do think that a hypothetical radio drama based on the book and set in London would be the ideal version, but I'm quite happy with the movie.)
I agree with the parent post, that good science fiction novels don't make for good movies, and vice versa. Most of the best literary science fiction is too complex or too introspective to make for a good 2-hour movie. Likewise, I don't think that "The Matrix" would have been very enjoyable in novel form.
I haven't been around a human baby for any length of time in years, but when I got my first dog a few years ago, he would get the hiccups occasionally. He stopped doing it by 9 months of age or so. When it did happen, it was usually after eating, and...it makes my dark cynical soul scream to say this, but it was just adorable. He'd hiccup, look around in confusion, go back to standard puppy mode, hiccup, and repeat the process.
It never lasted very long, and didn't seem to be hurting or upsetting him, but I did ask the vet about it on the next checkup. He said it happened frequently in puppies, and was often caused by eating/drinking too fast or at a weird angle. And for a puppy, every angle is a weird angle.:)
The second dog didn't hiccup as a puppy, though. And while I'm on the subject, is there anything more hilarious than when two dogs are curled up asleep together, one of them farts, looks up in suprise, and the other jumps up and starts barking?
I have to look at this from a biological perspective...
How on earth are they planning to bring in enough women to help keep the Libertarian population going for a couple of generations? It has been my (broadly generalized)experience that finding hard core Republican women is difficult enough; finding enough hard core Libertarian women (who are willing to mother lots of kids) is going to be nigh-impossible. Unless they're planning on just cloning themselves or living forever or something...;)
Another contributor to a web forum said he used Google for research, not politics.
"I'm currently in China right now on a project, and coding without Google is not easy," he said, "especially since there isn't any English bookstore I can run over to while I'm here to pick up a tech manual."
Whoa... I mean, sometimes I lose track of time while drinking, and decide to do stupid things like make vulgar posts on Slashdot, but it's the first time that cheap rum has sent me *back* in time!;)
That is pretty cool, though. First I have a lower Slashdot user number than Wil Wheaton, and now this... I'm going to have to fight the hordes of women off with a stick!
Seriously, it's a wonder my brother and I didn't kill each other. I also remember using one of those Radio Shack electronics kits to build something that produced a "mild electric shock". I did my research and figured out how to make the thing portable and much more powerful (the secret was a bigger capacitor). Unfortunately, it made a lot of noise and required that someone hold two bare wires, but I was typically able to give someone a good shock at least once.:)
And don't get me started on stuff involving fire... I don't need the FBI showing up today.:)
I had one of those when I was a kid. Or rather, my little gun nut brother did, but I used it frequently. Back in the 80s, toy guns didn't have to be bright fluorescent colors, so it was a sleek matte black. The little suction cup darts were fun and all, but this toy definitely lent itself to some modification.
First, you could get more power out of each shot by looping the string around the ends of the bow. This slight modification meant that the suction cup darts would go way to fast to stick to anything, but would hurt like a muthafucka. The next step, naturally, was to replace the safe and cushy ammunition with sharpened pencils, which worked great. They would stick in the wall if aimed properly. (Of course, eye protection was important here, because occasionally shots would get flipped straight up instead of horizontally.)
Steel ball bearings didn't work as well, but that's what the slingshot was for.:)
I just left the Memphis meetup. Had a great time. There were seven other guys present, but neither of the hosts showed up (would have helped if the people at T.G.I. Friday's had any clue who we were).
I had to leave early to go to work, but I'm definitely coming back next month. The great sysadmin stories were just starting to warm up as I had to leave. Next time I intend to take off work and get a designated driver so as to better enjoy myself.:)
If anyone wants to get in touch with me, I was the one guy at the table with a tie. Reach me at sviluppo@NOSPAM.mac.com
Lynchburg is located in Moore County, Tennessee which is officially a "dry county". That means, no alcoholic beverages may be sold within Moore County. Ironically, there are 48 warehouses with over 200 million liters of Jack Daniel's Sour Mash Whiskey stored in barrels on the hill outside of Lynchburg. The distillery is permitted to sell special collector bottles of whiskey only to tourists from outside the county.
A set of my relatives lived near there back in the day, and purportedly let a young Jack Daniels live in their barn for a few months. However, said relatives didn't drink alcohol and refused to enter into a partnership with the enterprising young man. I weep for the fact that if my ancestors had stayed true to their Scotch-Irish roots, I could have lived the easy life of a hard liquor heir. Of course, if I remember correctly one of the men in that branch of the family was hanged for stealing a horse a few years later, so I guess the karma worked itself out.;)
The producers of Lord Of The Rings curbed the marketing and toy tie-ins with corporations peddling food and dolls to kids out of respect for Tolkien.
Admittedly, the Tolkein merchandising isn't out of hand, but try reading the above sentence in the presence of my Burger King light-up LOTR goblet with Frodo on the side. (Yes, I actually bought one of the things, because when I fill it with some weird alcoholic beverage I generally think it's hilarious once I get to the bottom of the cup.)
And I've been seeing more LOTR action figures and other stuff recently, or maybe I wasn't paying attention earlier.
It's probably too late in the day for anyone to notice this post, but here goes:
To grossly oversimply the idea, you've got males with good eyesight who go off and hunt the deer, and bring food back to the village. You've got a certain percentage of guys who can't see as well, and don't make good hunters, so they stick around in the village and do other things (like metalwork, or pottery or something like that) that doesn't require great long-range sight or perfect short-range site. Now, the guys who can see well are gone for long periods of time every day, and the women seek entertainment that's close...:)
OK, so it's not a perfect (nor original) theory, but one that I always enjoy springing on people that bring up the subject.
I don't have an exact quote, since it was a spoken-word performance, but I'll try to get the gist of it.
He was talking about the KKK, and Aryan Nation wackos, and other gropus like that. In reference to the KKK marching in New York, he suggested that when the KKK comes to town, *everyone* should dress up in white robes and hoods, people of all races and sexual orientations. And to play "kiss tag" with the Grand Wizards, for instance a black drag queen running up to the main idiot and pulling off his hood to give him a peck on the cheek. Turn it into a big party. Suddenly, the KKK doesn't want to come to town any more.
There was another suggestion, this one dealing with LA and an Aryan dating service online. He wanted to start dating all the Aryan women and slowly turning them around, starting with the music of Charlie Parker and John Lee Hooker.
Great stuff, and he says it far better than I can... My point is this: if there's speech you don't like, refute it, ridicule it, parody it, or come up with a more intelligent argument. Don't hide behind the government and expect it to protect you from these evil things.
...you watch them for the "action" scenes, not the plot and story line.;)
I made this observation to a friend after watching "Kiss of the Dragon". A pretty forgettable plot, and some stuff that just didn't make much sense, but great fight scenes. Same thing goes for "Iron Monkey", which I saw this weekend. The plot was thin, the humor was forced, but the ass-kicking was great. (Except for that "Flying Sleeves of Pain" or whatever it was towards the end...)
I haven't seen "The One" yet, but I figure it will be the same... I tend to go into these movies with pretty low expectations, and am almost never disappointed.:) One interesting note: on the DVD for "Black Mask", also with Jet Li, there is an option just for watching the fight scenes and nothing else. Whoo-hoo!
Even though there's more important things going on in the world right now, nothing disappears into the news black hole faster than a successful space mission. A failed mission, on the other hand...
Robot dogs are completely ineffective against door-to-door salesmen, evangelists, and kids selling candy bars. In fact, a robot dog is probably going to make you look like you've got enough extra cash to support whatever brilliant crusade they're on.
But real dogs are great in this situation. I've got two, a good sized chocolate lab who can stand on his hind legs and look you dead in the eye, and a mixed breed who looks like the bastard offspring of a coyote and a dingo. Neither is too fond of unknown visitors, so I typically take them with me to the door and hold their collars while they're straining and lunging at the salesperson/Jehovah's Witness/whatever. It's amazing how brief their pitches become...
Also... You can't really blame flatulence on a robot dog.;)
Slashdot Mirror
I find the binary finger-counting method to be useful sometimes, but for numbers up to 99, I've always enjoyed this little method my Dad taught me when I was around six. It works kind of like Roman numerals without the IV or IX kind of subtractions:
On your right hand, the fingers represent ones, and the thumb is a five. On the left hand, the fingers are tens, and the thumb is fifty. So when you're counting, it's like this from one to eleven:
1-9: Left Hand: one finger, two fingers, three fingers, four fingers, one thumb, one thumb + one finger, etc.
10: Right Hand: one finger
11: Right Hand: one finger + Left Hand: one finger
I find it useful from time to time when I don't have a pen and paper to make tick marks.
Thanks!
Oh, and in reference to Strange Brew... I picked it up on DVD (only $10 at Best Buy), and not having seen it since the age of 12, I never realized that the entire plot is ripped from Hamlet. It definitely makes for a fun viewing later in life. :)
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
Some info for those not familiar with it:
IMDB link
Mike Jittlov's Website
If anyone actually reads this post and replies with a request for more information, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Cheers, Mzilikazi
Until last year, when my dad's secretary was starting a home business, and he volunteered me to do some brochures for her.
On the more relevant topic about doing tech support for a large, extended family, I have a bit of advice. Find a young cousin, niece/nephew, whatever, that has geek potential. Give that person an old computer, direct them to Slashdot, do whatever is necessary to corrupt them properly. Then start shifting the burden of responsibility.
I wish I had thought of this earlier--I've got a young cousin who's currently taking over some of the duties for me. (I didn't do anything to steer him early on, but I might apply that to some of the other branches of the family.) And it's fun to have another geek in the family for reunions. :)
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
But on the gripping hand, would we really want the Sci-Fi Channel to handle the project? ;)
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
You should be able to flesh out your list of states pretty easily, most just add -an to the end of the state name. Alaskan, Hawaiian, etc. Arkansan trips people up a bit, because you pronounce it ar-KAN-san as opposed to how the state is pronounced, AR-kan-saw. (Check the dictionary for the oddballs!)
I always got a kick out of a few English ones, though:
Liverpool -- Liverpudlian
Manchester -- Mancunian
(If I remember correctly, the adjective forms refer back to old Roman names for the towns.)
And how could you forget Berlin -- Berliner? ;)
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
I'm probably going to get flamed to hell for saying that, but since music was such an important part of the story, actually getting to hear it made a big difference. (I do think that a hypothetical radio drama based on the book and set in London would be the ideal version, but I'm quite happy with the movie.)
I agree with the parent post, that good science fiction novels don't make for good movies, and vice versa. Most of the best literary science fiction is too complex or too introspective to make for a good 2-hour movie. Likewise, I don't think that "The Matrix" would have been very enjoyable in novel form.
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
It never lasted very long, and didn't seem to be hurting or upsetting him, but I did ask the vet about it on the next checkup. He said it happened frequently in puppies, and was often caused by eating/drinking too fast or at a weird angle. And for a puppy, every angle is a weird angle. :)
The second dog didn't hiccup as a puppy, though. And while I'm on the subject, is there anything more hilarious than when two dogs are curled up asleep together, one of them farts, looks up in suprise, and the other jumps up and starts barking?
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
The Natalie Portman Project Featuring Hot Grits
Jon Katz Overdrive
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
How on earth are they planning to bring in enough women to help keep the Libertarian population going for a couple of generations? It has been my (broadly generalized)experience that finding hard core Republican women is difficult enough; finding enough hard core Libertarian women (who are willing to mother lots of kids) is going to be nigh-impossible. Unless they're planning on just cloning themselves or living forever or something...
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
Link
Another contributor to a web forum said he used Google for research, not politics.
"I'm currently in China right now on a project, and coding without Google is not easy," he said, "especially since there isn't any English bookstore I can run over to while I'm here to pick up a tech manual."
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
That is pretty cool, though. First I have a lower Slashdot user number than Wil Wheaton, and now this... I'm going to have to fight the hordes of women off with a stick!
Seriously, it's a wonder my brother and I didn't kill each other. I also remember using one of those Radio Shack electronics kits to build something that produced a "mild electric shock". I did my research and figured out how to make the thing portable and much more powerful (the secret was a bigger capacitor). Unfortunately, it made a lot of noise and required that someone hold two bare wires, but I was typically able to give someone a good shock at least once. :)
And don't get me started on stuff involving fire... I don't need the FBI showing up today. :)
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
First, you could get more power out of each shot by looping the string around the ends of the bow. This slight modification meant that the suction cup darts would go way to fast to stick to anything, but would hurt like a muthafucka. The next step, naturally, was to replace the safe and cushy ammunition with sharpened pencils, which worked great. They would stick in the wall if aimed properly. (Of course, eye protection was important here, because occasionally shots would get flipped straight up instead of horizontally.)
Steel ball bearings didn't work as well, but that's what the slingshot was for. :)
God that thing was fun.
Cheers,
Mziliazki
I had to leave early to go to work, but I'm definitely coming back next month. The great sysadmin stories were just starting to warm up as I had to leave. Next time I intend to take off work and get a designated driver so as to better enjoy myself. :)
If anyone wants to get in touch with me, I was the one guy at the table with a tie. Reach me at sviluppo@NOSPAM.mac.com
Cheers,
Mzilikazi
Lynchburg is in a dry county:
A set of my relatives lived near there back in the day, and purportedly let a young Jack Daniels live in their barn for a few months. However, said relatives didn't drink alcohol and refused to enter into a partnership with the enterprising young man. I weep for the fact that if my ancestors had stayed true to their Scotch-Irish roots, I could have lived the easy life of a hard liquor heir. Of course, if I remember correctly one of the men in that branch of the family was hanged for stealing a horse a few years later, so I guess the karma worked itself out.
Don't know about the UFO sightings, though.
Admittedly, the Tolkein merchandising isn't out of hand, but try reading the above sentence in the presence of my Burger King light-up LOTR goblet with Frodo on the side. (Yes, I actually bought one of the things, because when I fill it with some weird alcoholic beverage I generally think it's hilarious once I get to the bottom of the cup.)
And I've been seeing more LOTR action figures and other stuff recently, or maybe I wasn't paying attention earlier.
To grossly oversimply the idea, you've got males with good eyesight who go off and hunt the deer, and bring food back to the village. You've got a certain percentage of guys who can't see as well, and don't make good hunters, so they stick around in the village and do other things (like metalwork, or pottery or something like that) that doesn't require great long-range sight or perfect short-range site. Now, the guys who can see well are gone for long periods of time every day, and the women seek entertainment that's close...
OK, so it's not a perfect (nor original) theory, but one that I always enjoy springing on people that bring up the subject.
Just kidding, my frosty neighbors to the north...
He was talking about the KKK, and Aryan Nation wackos, and other gropus like that. In reference to the KKK marching in New York, he suggested that when the KKK comes to town, *everyone* should dress up in white robes and hoods, people of all races and sexual orientations. And to play "kiss tag" with the Grand Wizards, for instance a black drag queen running up to the main idiot and pulling off his hood to give him a peck on the cheek. Turn it into a big party. Suddenly, the KKK doesn't want to come to town any more.
There was another suggestion, this one dealing with LA and an Aryan dating service online. He wanted to start dating all the Aryan women and slowly turning them around, starting with the music of Charlie Parker and John Lee Hooker.
Great stuff, and he says it far better than I can... My point is this: if there's speech you don't like, refute it, ridicule it, parody it, or come up with a more intelligent argument. Don't hide behind the government and expect it to protect you from these evil things.
I made this observation to a friend after watching "Kiss of the Dragon". A pretty forgettable plot, and some stuff that just didn't make much sense, but great fight scenes. Same thing goes for "Iron Monkey", which I saw this weekend. The plot was thin, the humor was forced, but the ass-kicking was great. (Except for that "Flying Sleeves of Pain" or whatever it was towards the end...)
I haven't seen "The One" yet, but I figure it will be the same... I tend to go into these movies with pretty low expectations, and am almost never disappointed.
Even though there's more important things going on in the world right now, nothing disappears into the news black hole faster than a successful space mission. A failed mission, on the other hand...
But real dogs are great in this situation. I've got two, a good sized chocolate lab who can stand on his hind legs and look you dead in the eye, and a mixed breed who looks like the bastard offspring of a coyote and a dingo. Neither is too fond of unknown visitors, so I typically take them with me to the door and hold their collars while they're straining and lunging at the salesperson/Jehovah's Witness/whatever. It's amazing how brief their pitches become...
Also... You can't really blame flatulence on a robot dog.