Hangovers

At least you made it home alive, Terry.

Last night I prayed at the porcelain altar.

The Long Tail of the Ballmer Peak should never be experimentally determined.

I remembered that I spent most of my time in college, between problem sets, in a dynamic equilibrium consisting of an elevated state of inebriation and wishing I was dead.

…or maybe theoreticians like you should stay out of the lab.

Like one time, we decided to carol all of Caltech with the main verse of “Terriers are My Favorite Animal.

This is why you cultivate an abusively low tolerance for alcohol, Terry

After about two dorms it became, “Terry is my favorite animal. Terry weighs about 20lbs…”

Just make it end.

And by the time we finished at Ruddock House, it had pretty much become a solo: “I weigh about 20lbs. I help the aged…”

Please, please, I promise I won’t do this again.

That’s when J— got the idea that we had to protect all the eggs in the house.

What comes after bargaining?

We raided the place for all the “safe sex” condoms.

I shouldn’t have eaten anything.

Then we into every refrigerator and proceeded to individually condom every egg we found in there.

Was that just my liver that came out?

Yeah, I know it sounds hilarious.

Uh oh. This is the part where parts of your body haven’t been told there is nothing left to eject.

But imagine you lived in Ruddock House and needed a hangover breakfast and found all your eggs individually condomed.

Note to self: Alcohol is the devil.

I’m glad I lived in Page House.

I wish I was dead.

Update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR5negCF024

Statistics

As I mentioned before, everyone in my family but me is an expert at statistics. It’s hard to explain…

When my brother was angry that O.J. got away with it, my dad calmed him down by pointing out that in was a natural consequence of our legal system minimizing Type II error.

When my mom pointed out how unfair it was that her children were the highest rated teachers in their departments and she was the lowest rated in hers, my brother joked, “That’s just mean reversion, mom.”

I won’t get into how many times we’ve seriously argued about what the proper null for our discussion was…

Which brings me to last night’s dinner after Spontaneous Drinking Night, with my geek friends:

Statisticians

(Sometimes I think I’m living in an xkcd comic.) Also apologies to Benjamin Disraeli…and my family 😉

Signs your child was born to program

A friend broke the news that he has a second child on the way.

I was like, “Already? Must be the Irish Catholic in you!”

It occurs to me that now his first born has entered ankle-biting school. And maybe some of you have kids. How are you to know your child has a future in programming?

Well I don’t know, but I do have a story.

[The terrible threes after the jump.]Continue reading

Family tech support

I’m preparing a list of things to do tomorrow, when it occurs to me:

I wonder if Larry or Sergei ever have to fix their family members’ computers?

If so, that’s got to be the World’s Most Expensive Tech Support.

I wonder how many six(or more)-figure-salary software engineers weekend as the family Geek Squad?

Never ask a nerd for directions

“The front office is to your back that way and to your left,” someone says.

The delivery man walks a bit, gets confused, and looks at me across the floor, “Which way from here?” he points.

“It’s right of that.” I shout back.

He points in another direction, “That way?”

“No. Bisect the angle you just created.”

blank stare

“Errr…Or something.”

Mathematics is the universal language of science, not FedEx.

GPS everywhere and in everything

My computer has a GPS in it using the same SIRFstar III chipset as my hiking handheld, which also doubles as my cycling GPS.

On the Mac, it appears as a “USB-serial” device whose driver is made by Prolific Technology which, coincidentally, makes the driver for my camera GPS receiver. Like all SIRFstar III GPSs, getting the acquisition took only a second, but a fix took a minute.

Great! Now what to do?

GPS + Google Earth = fun

[gps madness after the jump]Continue reading

Faking long exposure

I hate feeling depressed…

Feathered death

Feathered Death
Baker Beach, San Francisco, California

Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G
1/60sec @ f/18, iso200, 14mm (14mm)

When people ask what sort of subject I like to shoot, I say, “nature,” but it’s been over a year since I’ve done any outdoor photography. I don’t know if my one dimensionality is an escape from or the cause of my mild malaise. In fact, I can’t think of a single good reason why I should feel this way since my life has become monotonically better, including living in a city that I love.

So I decided to wake up at an unreasonable hour, drive somewhere and try to convince myself why my depression is irrational.

Sunday hits San Francisco

Sunday hits San Francisco
Treasure Island, San Francisco, California

Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G
2 exposures, 10 multi-exposures, 1/100sec @ f/18, iso200, 14mm (14mm)

One nice thing about living in San Francisco is Treasure Island doesn’t cost you a Bay Bridge toll. I’ve seen a thousand shots of the city from here, but very few taken at dawn.

[Ultrawide lenses, and multiple-exposures after the jump.]Continue reading

Home alone (or not)

I’ve been writing lately about the three P’s: programming, photography, and politics. Many of you must be bored out of your mind and are thinking, Damn! Terry.TMI.

Time to break it up a bit.

A friend is in the process of moving to a new place. She mentioned that she had never lived on her own before. She’s always been with boyfriends or her parents.

[At home with the parents after the jump]Continue reading

The Trouble with Techies

While researching the previous article, I came across this hilarious quote:

This is a far cry from 1966, originally the Klingons were scotch tape Asians (Fong, 176); White actors given slanty eyes. The Klingon race incarnate all the characteristics that most scare White America. The Klingons are violent, ill tempered, lustful, and drunk. They are on a mission to destroy the peaceful Federation and take over the universe. Finally, they fight to the death preferring death to defeat or capture. One scene from an episode entitled The Trouble with Tribbles almost mirrors a scene from the 1944 film Dragon Seed. In both scenes the evil Asians show up at a restaurant and demand liquor, when they are denied they go on a violent rampage. Often, they are shown eating large hunks of meat off the bone Gengis Kahn style.
—“As-liens: The Final Frontier in Depicts of Yellow Peril in Popular Cinema

I’m so going to have to do this at the next geek event.

Captain Koloth

Clearly Capt. Koloth would be much scarier if he were darker, but apparently demanding liquor is scary enough.