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gRadio
 Friday, September 6, 2002
Hate is easy; love is hard. Bob Unger, executive editor for the paper in State College, PA. Hero. Editor for a PA Knight Ridder daily fires Ann Coulter as a columnist. Link goes to Editor's letter to Coulter
I'm tempted to get a subscription, just to support Bob, and because I like JoePa so much. 10:22:00 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via FARK ]
Thursday, September 5, 2002
So check this'n out...
I'm simply thrilled and trepidatious, all at once. Now that Radio allows monthly and weekly archives (although Paul N. had clearly paved the way to monthly archives a long time ago...), that means that I can slice and dice my blathering in more ways. Kvell. Not that I'll get around to making public links to them anytime soon, so you 'll have to know how to hack a URL for a good while longer for this site. That said, I'm fresh from my battle with the upstream gremlins, though, and I realize what a fantastic but sometimes brittle house of cards is being added onto. The worst days to try to post por moi (OS X and v1 airport using a dial-up connection from home) are the [#2 worst] last day of a month (all pages representing that month must be re-upstreamed with a link being added to the calendar for the last day of that month) and the [#1 worst] the first day of the month, which also means all of the days' pages for the previous month must get upstreamed cleanly, too. If Radio weren't so easy, and I weren't so lazy, I'd give some other blogging software a run. But then again, I really don't push the limits too hard around these parts, and I can always just try to re-upstream stuff from work, where I've got the really fat Internet pipe. Like I'll probably have to do now. Sometimes I just like to hear my own whine whine whinge, you know? (OK, stop nodding that vigorously, you might hurt yourself.) 11:52:14 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this
Easy to see why the daughter's so smart, too....
Has she tried white bread, american cheese, and butter yet?
I know we all have to eat, whether we walk to the post office or not, but why are so many webloggers' posts food-related? 11:22:31 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via kottke.org ]
All y'all still here? For a little over a day now, I've been having, uh, adventures with Radio upstreaming. That's why I've been so quiet. Didja miss me? Or are you just holding in there, regardless, waiting for another k-log related post? Soon come, mon. Soon come. 11:08:30 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
and so shall ye receive, Alwin.
Andy Fragen's been creating a wonderful collection of solutions to some of the problems that face some Radio users. Check it out... Ditto relocation of the Radio app and files; there should be a tool to make moving RU to a new directory a simple proposition. Try Andy's myFixFilePathsAndAddresses script. Just follow the directions. And don't thank me, thank Andy. He makes good stuff. :-) 7:37:57 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via ViewFromTheHeart ]
Better him than me. I'd have to think this one is hard-coded from way back when early homonids were first getting used to walking upright... schadenfreude. Dictionary.com Word of the Day: schadenfreude It's how you feel when that you see that speeding and tailgating idiot in the SUV pulled over and getting a ticket a few miles later. You know you do, too. 7:22:24 AM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via Jeff's Radio Weblog ]
Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Outstanding OS X news from my Alwin(er)victim...
Yessssssss! Still in beta, but certainly being updated. Carbon Copy Cloner now OS X 10.2 compatible. (via Applescript Info) Just a few more pieces to fall into place, now... 10:29:10 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via ViewFromTheHeart ]
Certainly trumps yaks' milk is pink, don't it?
Lucky eff'in' pigs. Pigs orgasms last 30 minutes (Fact 40)... and other useful facts That'll do, pig. I said, THAT'LL DO! 10:16:27 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via FARK ]
What They Don't Teach at J-School... but really oughta wanna
Clyde Haberman offers advice to the folks in charge of curriculum at Columbia U, one of the primier schools of journalism, who recently have created some, uh, small controversy about their mission. [Young reporters] must also be told never to enter a dangerous situation with a photographer at their side. Photographers are crazy. The best ones are absolutely nuts. They stand right there while people are shooting at each other. You can get hurt that way. I had read Clyde's column before, and was reminded of it last night as I watched C-Span. There was a program about photojournalists and their capturing the events of 9-11 and the responses; included was a nice long segment where Allan Tannenbaum showed some of his work. Allan Tannenbaum told many stories about his experiences on that day, as well as some others about other events. Tannenbaum's understated remarks about how close he had been to extreme danger reinforced Clyde's only-half-kidding remark. I knew some folks who were photojournalists, and I do agree with Clyde. They will just stand right there, feeling protected by their camera, while almost any other person would be wishing they could call to Scotty for a transporter beam, stat... 6:38:52 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via New York Times: Education ]
Something else from your desktop? Dane and his wife have marvelous news. Congratulations. 6:13:03 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this
Monday, September 2, 2002
A proposed new spec for the UgBRoll macro I've been inspired by what DaveW has been busy with lately, and Alwin's outburst yesterday which led to the notion of the UgBRoll macro. Obviously I need more practice formatting a spec proposal for ease of reading, but here's a public draft to get things moving in some direction... This morning, I've been considering a version 0.93.141592653589793238462643383279 spec for the UgBRoll macro, which will operate on an OPML file. Certainly, the simple presentation of those folks who have made your UgB list could be accomplished merely by copying and renaming the existing blogroll macro and pointing it to an appropriate OPML file, or using the existing blogroll macro unmodified. But that wouldn't contain all of the functionality that would be nice to have in a good UgBRoll macro. So, I've decided to take part of this holiday and roll up my sleeves... The bitchSmak featureWhy: Because sometimes just adding someone to a list isn't enough to show how you really feel. Background: The first addition is inspired by the TrackBack feature of MoveableType. But it serves a slightly different purpose. Trackback is aimed at the level of a single post. But if someone has actually made your UgBRoll, it is likely there may be more than a single post on your blog involved, hence your placing them in your list. (Then again, you may be capable of showing considerable restraint, and consolidate all that bile into a single post. Your choice.) Anyway, the feature will operate on parts of the actual list, so it can appear on every page of your blog, if you wish, not just be limited to a single post. How: The first added feature will use an attribute named izumaBitch (pronounced "Izuma Beeee-otch!?!"), that should be a Boolean value (either hellYea or false -- note that I have also seen the need to extend the list of possible Boolean values, since "true" just doesn't provide enough emphasis in this situation...). The izumaBitch attribute must be specified as part of the anchor tag for an entry on your UgBRoll list. The macro will accept a similarly named parameter-value pair, of course. Potential implementation constraints: Now here's the tricky part of this implementation, where I'll have to get all of the industry's hardware manufacturers to add some minor equipment to their laptop and desktop units. It would consist of a jointed titanium-alloy retractable arm, with an appropriate number of 3-Volt stepper motors driving it, and a fairly hefty silicone hand (for ease of cleaning and to avoid providing a safe harbor for bacteria). The stepper motors will be connected to a chipset on the motherboard which can receive and process an XML-RPC message (I'm waiting to hear back from representatives from AMD, Intel, Motorola and Frito-Lay as to who will be first to come to the table with an appropriate chipset.). How I envision it working: When someone reading your blog clicks on the link containing a URL with an izumaBitch attribute and the value of "hellYea", an XML-RPC message is sent (details for the contents of that message TBD later, while the message could be generated by a Javascript action) across the Internet to the computer of the owner of that URL (as determined by a whois lookup). The payload of that message will cause the arm to rise up and smite the targeted person "with great vengeance and furious anger", in the grand manner of a wide-brimmed-hat wearing character actor in a 1970's Blaxsploitation flick. The beauty of this proposal is not only the use of high-tech metals and sexy but dead-simple protocols, but it would enable the use of proxy users (*any* of your weblog visitors) to bitchSmak the fools who've made your list. Remember the use of proxies can make the Web a better place. (Ooooh! Note to self: Tag-line that one!) Comments and suggested additions are welcome. Of course, if you like this, you can let me know that, too. ;-) [Update: Alwin expresses extreme regret at having spawned this mess, and asks for your help...] 2:24:35 PM [] blah blah blah'd on this
Sunday, September 1, 2002
New Radio macro feature requested: UgBRoll
Now that could be a useful macro... ... This week I've had several people thank me for leads to stories, answers to questions (some answers have not even rated a thank you, earning them a place on my UngratefulBastardRoll that I will implementing RSN), and helpful hints, but not one of them has figured out how to form a link to any of my blogs. Name me, yes. Link me, no.
Chiding folks for and about linky-love involves walking a fine line, Alwin. I should know, since I managed an upgrade to top billing at your main house. Thanks! :-) [ blinked via ViewFromTheHeart ]
Great news from Jeff-ville!
Glad to see Smokey has returned from her walkabout. And congratulations to Glenn and his bride. Mazel Tov! 10:38:22 AM [] blah blah blah'd on this
A non-math recursion example is in... Jeff weighs in with the canonical first-year CS recursion exercise, the Towers of Hanoi. The students who finish this one early are usually urged to attempt the Towers of Saigon puzzle, too, in my own experience. I can answer that in three words — Towers of Hanoi Linked from that page is precisely the sort of non-math recursion explanation and example I'm after, in this example, how to determine if you're a Jew. What I like is that this example is it's a non-math example (it also makes me nervous for other reasons, but I'll take what I can right now...). Because of their own comfort with math, most CS instructors immediately reach for a math-based example to illustrate a concept, then might eventually be able to provide a non-math example, if pressed. I remember a statement from one professor, one of those early pioneers who moved into CS from a Math department, back when mainframes began to rule the earth. He said Scheme's syntax was intuitive, since it was merely algebra formulas. I'm very certain that less than one-third of the students in his classes would have agreed with his statement. The state of mathematics education in this country is abysmal, for a number of reasons (different rant), all made worse by the recent emphasis on standardized tests, as well. Few students escape the current system with a solid understanding of math and related concepts. For non-math types (pun intended), most CS exercises are extremely non-trivial, because comfort with mathematics and its abstractions are taken for granted by most CS instructors. Meanwhile, for many students those are very large additional barriers. The additional burden some exercises pose are not heavily factored into the grading system or, quite often, into the teaching. For instance, here's the hidden cruelty of another recursion exercise, the Fibonacci sequence. First, the students must get a solid grasp on the concept of recursion. The students probably knows to try use a recursive structure in their program, since that's what was covered in recent lectures. Next, the students must solve the *puzzle* they are being asked to program. Again, they must fully grasp another concept which is slightly orthagonal to the class topic, in this case, what the fsck is a Fibonacci sequence, AND then how can the sequence be represented using an algebraic formula. Finally, a student has to translate that representation into a foreign language, and must be syntactically precise. Or the more-native speakers will mock them and a poor grade will be recorded. I certainly agree that I don't want someone without strong math skills designing hardware or new compilers or large relational databases. At the same time, I believe that there are clear benefits from learning to program, including an increased confidence in math. "Students who learn to design programs properly learn to analyze a problem statement; express its essence, abstractly and with examples; formulate statements and comments in a precise language; evaluate and revise these activities in light of checks and tests; and pay attention to details. [1]" I just not sold that a reliance on math-based exercises and examples is an optimal way to get there for the majority of first-year students... 9:58:37 AM [] blah blah blah'd on this [ blinked via Jeff's Radio Weblog ]
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