Overheard over dinner.
Girl: “I’d like to order some expensive beer but I can’t finish it.”
Boy: “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll chug this equally expensive beer and help you with yours later.”
Now that’s love right there.
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?
Consultants
(I am sitting in a presentation on a web framework in our office conference room given by a former employee who is now a consultant. One of my engineers asks the consultant to give an example from experience where he had to modify the framework code itself.)
R—: “Yeah, that happened to me, you know when v was greater than 1 and you are going viral… you know when you are doing a blast? We had a couple sites hit over 40 million users, sure then we had to go in to the CakePHP objects with an optimizer. I don’t know if you still have that at Tagged, but back when I worked there and blasting those times it makes sense to optimize so sure I’ve done it before.”
(One of my engineers, not me): “What company did you consult for hit 40 million users?”
R—: “Umm… (long pause)…I was speaking in hypotheticals. But certainly… v greater than one… I’m talking about the slope, when that happens and a lot of e-mails… No, we’ve worked with some sites that had… umm… (pause) more than 10 million users and that’s umm… what I was talking about, built on Cake and we’ve done that for around 10 million, so it’s certainly doable.”
(I so wanted to ask what site that was with even 10 million regs.)
[Origins after the jump.]Continue reading
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 madness after the jump]Continue reading
UDMA and photography
I eavesdropped on a twitter discussion between Jim and Adam on UDMA cards. As outlined in this article, not all cameras can take advantage of UDMA cards, but my Nikon D3 (and D300) are among them. Also, the read speed means faster downloads.
So it’s worth mentioning that Mark Jen pointed out this deal on high speed card reader ($25) (you’ll need a computer with a Firewire 800 interface). As well as rebates on the 8GB ($90) and the 4GB ($33) UDMA CF cards.
[More about compact flash and purchasing photography after the jump]Continue reading
Planning your Macs
My Uncle is soon to be without his laptop and desktop. An in our family, this means a Macintosh…with Skype installed. And this means, bouncing ideas off the family Mac geek: me.
Here were his ideas:
- Idea 1:
- Get 1 desktop and 1 laptop. For desktop, I am thinking of iMac rather than a Power Mac (which may be too large and iMac can do the most of PowerMac capability). For laptop, Mac Air may be good and light but it may lack some features like hard-disk, and the number of USB ports.
- Idea 2:
- Get a good laptop, a wireless keyboard & mouse, and a big LCD screen to hook up the laptop wirelessly.
I thought it’d be fun to share my thinking/email.
[My commentary after the jump.]Continue reading
Faking long exposure
I hate feeling depressed…
Feathered Death
Baker Beach, San Francisco, California
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
Treasure Island, San Francisco, California
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
Last Suppers
I was browsing hulu yesterday, when I saw this promotional ad for the upcoming restart of Battlestar Galactica.
The full image is very impressive and instantly recognizable:
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 (2008)
The image is normally a center figure with flanked by four sets of trinities. Therefore, there is someone missing in the photo. I guess the missing cylon? A possibly interesting thing is the missing spot is occupied by Judas in the Da Vinci original.
(The series recap is hilarious.)
It is, of course, a homage to Leonard Da Vinci’s The Last Supper fresco:
The Last Supper (1495-1498) by Leonardo Da Vinci
The symmetry, the center triangle, the grouping of threes, the expressions, the lack of halos around the holy figures. While this is the restored version, even the barely-visible unrestored fresco is a powerful piece. It deserves all the copies it inspires and more.
[More Last Suppers after the jump]Continue reading
Advocates of Single-Payer
This shocking article, especially in light of their tactical PR moves, makes a number of people theorize that WalMart would be advocates of a Single-payer health care system.
No. Just the opposite.
In 2004, WalMart spent $650k to defeat Proposition 72. Now a careful reading may have some wondering how a bill requiring heath coverage is not the antithesis of “single payer.”
But that’s because most people’s understanding of economics is naïve.
[The business of single-payer after the jump]Continue reading