Blog

I hate code

Don’t Let Me Down as done by Gomez
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/gomez2005-01-24.dpa4011.flac16/gomez2005-01-24d2t04_64kb.mp3]

I’ve been saying that a lot lately, as I code more of the Landshark site. I’ll look at something, and see no reason for it to not work. Today I had to find an incredibly roundabout (but ultimately more efficient) way of doing something, that should have worked when I wrote it the first time.

But saying ‘I hate code’ doesn’t help much. The code knows what its supposed to do, and it only does what you tell it. If something is wrong, then (most likely) you are to blame.

I don’t like code any more than I did before I realized this, but its good to know.

Story Time

Tornado Warning by Codename
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/codename2006-08-19.flac16/codename2006-08-19.d1t02_64kb.mp3]

I’ve been wanting to create this category for a long while now. In fact, I’ve wanted to make it since Grey Fox this year. The idea is that I’ll write stories of long ago in here, so that I’ll actually remember them. A perfect example of this is making this category. I mention that I’ve wanted to make it for a while, because its true. But whenever I’m on my blog I don’t remember it. The only reason I remembered it today is because someone reminded me of something that happened to us which I had forgotten about, and I thought about writing it on here. Which made me remember the Stories category. So here it is. I’ll probably go back and apply it to older posts that fit in. If there are any.

Anyway, the story I wanted to tell today is one that happened to me freshman year of school. Many of my friends and I were in ENGR 100, which is the Intro to Engineering class. It was only worth one credit, and was more or less a joke class. Everyone in the School of Engineering had to take it at some point, so we had to take it as well. There was no final exam, but there was a final project that we had to complete. We had to Reverse Engineer something. Meaning, we had to break something down and explain how it was put together and how it worked. We were allowed to work with other people on this, so I worked with my friend Eric.

For some reason we chose a microscope. Seemed simple enough: two lenses, a long tube, and a tray for stuff to go on. And we were right, it was pretty simple. There was only one problem. When we went to go take pictures of us taking it apart, and pictures of individual parts, we found ourselves without a microscope. I had thought I had one at home, and Eric did as well, but neither of us could find one. We didn’t want to waste money on this one credit class, so didn’t want to buy one. Instead, we managed to get a friend to take pictures of his microscope, and email them to us. We managed to make a almost presentable project, Which we got a D- on.

Now, I say we got a D-, but as far as we were concerned it had been a perfect score. Not only had we done our project without the object the project was about, but we had passed. I make a point of that because there were many, many people who didn’t pass. Many. Including some of our friends, who had worked longer, harder, and actually had the thing they were reverse engineering. I’m still proud of that, and I’m glad Eric reminded me of it.

Secret Business Revealed!

Scarlet Begonias >> Fire on the Mountain by the Grateful Dead
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/gd85-09-15.aud.zelner.13600.sbeok.shnf/gd85-09-15d2t02_64kb.mp3,http://www.archive.org/download/gd85-09-15.aud.zelner.13600.sbeok.shnf/gd85-09-15d2t03_64kb.mp3]

Story time.

About two years ago, Jack and I were watching Pinky and the Brain. There is an episode where the Brain creates a Chia Earth, right next to real Earth, which is exactly like Earth in every way. His plan it to convince people to move there, and leave real earth behind. His idea to convince people to move was to give them free t-shirts that read “I <3 Chia Earth.” The rational behind this was that everyone loves free tshirts, which is obviously true. One of us remarked that we’d like to get free t-shirts every so often, like a magazine subscription. The problem was that such a service didn’t exist, and even if it did, if you had to pay for a subscription they would no longer be free shirts. The obvious way to make it work was to make the shirts pay for themselves, with advertising. And since the shirts wouldn’t give themselves away, we started our own company.

Now myself and four friends are working hard at getting this business rolling. And it is just about there. Our website is up (landsharkshirts.com) and open to anyone who would like to subscribe. All we have left to do is to contact businesses in CT and convince them our service is valuable to them (which shouldn’t be hard, because it’s true).

And that’s the business.

Google Status Report

Best Feeling by Keller Williams
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/kw2007-07-24.c42.flac16/kw2007-07-24t13_64kb.mp3]

Follow up to GUpdate and Don’t Be Evil

So I’ve been using Google for nearly five months now, and it has replaced most apps I used to use on a daily basis. I’ve been extremely satisfied with it: GMail now handling 7 different email accounts; Google Documents handling both business, school, and personal documents; Google Reader consolidating 36 feeds into one place; Google Calendar keeping me on the same page as my business partners; and iGoogle displaying all that and more when I open my browser. But again, what makes it all worthwhile is that they work with each other and can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection.

I’m posting this update now (likely the last, I doubt I’ll become suddenly unsatisfied with it, unless they go and lose all my shit) because Google Reader has added the one feature that I’ve been longing for. A search, so I can run through my feeds quickly for something specific.

If you haven’t tried using Google’s slew of online apps, you should.
This is Web 3.0, and its here now, and its wonderful.

Revelations

Words Like Weapons by Brothers Past
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/bp2005-04-15shnf/bp2005-04-15d1t01_64kb.mp3]

Today I was thinking about how I’ve had a few large realizations that have fundamentally shifted the way I see the world.

The first was in 2004 (I think) on new years eve, in the Flordia Keys. I was looking out into the ocean, which was at extremely low tide. The ground and sky were the same shade of dark, and they blended into on solid wall of dark. It was incredibly peaceful, and it helped my mind wonder. That night I came to understand Subjective and Objective as I do now. I’ve found out since then that most people don’t have the same ideas about the Subjective and Objective. I don’t think I’ve ever really tried to explain it to anyone, because it is so pervasive.

Sometime in the following few years I came to understand definitons. I have a feeling that this understanding came from me realizing that people defined Subjective and Objective differently than I, and this is where our misunderstanding started. Which I’ve since found applies to almost any disagreement about anything.

I was thinking about this today as I walked by the dorm I lived in last year. I lived in the Noah Webster House. I always knew this, but everyone called it Webster, and somehow, even though I spent nine months there, I never realized it was the Noah Webster House. The man behind the dictionary. Definitions.

Noteworthy

Rhythm and Roots

Circus of Dreams by Gandalf Murphy & the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
[audio:http://www.slambovia.com/mp3s/07_Bootleg_Middle_Earth_3-11-06/Circus_of_Dreams.mp3]

Went to Rhythm and Roots today (just for the day). Probably the last festival of the year, but I saw a lot of friends there (R&R is the sister festival of Grey Fox) including Jim, who didn’t make it to Grey Fox this year.

Jim is a very cool guy. He is the person who taught me to cook fries that first year I manned the deep fryer. He’s nearly 80 years old, never married, has no kids. He used to teach art, and is incredibly interesting to talk to. I was a bit worried after he didn’t show up at Grey Fox that his health may have deteriorated, but he’s still as good as ever.

Good bands all around this year (including the band at the top of this post), but the highlight was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. I’ve only seen them once or twice before, and they put on a really cool show. Fantastic artists.

Also, sometime this afternoon I fell asleep in the sun and my face melted. In case you see me, I’m not really embarrassed, its just burnt.