Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in haineux's LiveJournal:

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Monday, February 8th, 2010
2:05 pm	We're expecting a boy My wife and I are pleased to announce that she is pregnant with a boy, due around July 30. She has made it past the first trimester, and all the various tests are nominal. (19 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
1:29 pm	Sleep Apnea: Any of my peeps a microsoft database hacker? So it turns out that after all that surgery etc, I am back on a BiPap machine. The good news is that it's a new machine that not only keeps copious data on how it's working, but it also has some kind of AI special sauce that automatically fine-tunes treatment over time. The doctor performs his haruspex to decide a proper setting for the machine, but then the machine monitors things, gradually reducing the pressure if things are going well, and increasing the pressure if it detects apnea/hypopnea events. (The other good news is that it's about half the size of the previous machine, and, when I am not inhaling, it is specified to emit 30 dBA of noise, which amounts to "quieter than a whisper, no really.") My conjecture is that this good news is the result of a Victory of Software -- namely, this device contains a pressure sensor, a very quiet fan driven by a stepper motor, and a CPU running many, many lines of software. Normally, I'm not quite as much of a fan of Doing Everything In Software (and I routinely make fun of people who seemingly make even the simplest electronic circuits out of micro-controllers), but for medical devices, it seems like a good idea. Anyway, I have this SD card full of data. Their proprietary software will only look for certain card readers, and then import the data to a local database using MSDE. But the data files themselves are easily retrieved from the card even in Mac OS X. (They used to use "smart cards" instead, and most of the discussions on The InterWebs are lamenting how hard it is to get at the data. Thank goodness it's no longer a big deal.) I want to figure out what the data format is and do something like that reporting that they do in the doctor's office. Yes, I realize that I can just drop by the doctor's office and get them to print me out the data, but where's the fun in that? (Comment on this)
Friday, January 29th, 2010
1:16 pm	The single best iPad critique yet Note, it is not safe for work: Hijinks Ensue's iPad Critique (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
3:31 pm	Haters will hate Ever since the very first Macintosh shipped, self-identifying "DIEHARD APPLE FANS" have complained bitterly about whatever it is that Apple just announced, and all the media, especially bloggers, publish that stuff as fast as possible because hey, it sells ads. I have emails to prove it: Jerry Pournelle complained that the Mac keyboard cord looked like a telephone cord, but actually was not. Someone told him that it was actually a telephone handset cord -- same connector, different layout, but of course, that wasn't good enough for Jerry. Apple released developer documentation, and people complained bitterly at the cost. So Apple printed the documentation in a "phone book" format, and people complained because the documentation changed, and the books were out of date. Both of these were in 1984. Most people who were reading these emails were still waiting for their own Macs, because Apple was quoting 2-3 months delivery. Now that I am an old, cranky bastard, I will tell you the reason for this behavior: People are vain, selfish brats. To wit: Apple has the temerity to release a product without consulting them, personally, so they get offended. So far, I've heard complaints about the fact that iPad doesn't have enough connectors, has a bezel that's too wide, and lacks a camera. This for a device that costs $500. Oh and, of course, it doesn't "multitask." Oh, it does multitask certain things, but THAT'S NOT ENOUGH. WE EXPECT MORE FROM APPLE. There's a million more such complaints. They're all irrelevant. Here's an argument proving this: 1) iPhone "apps" are the revolution. (Props to MSNBC for calling it: Planet of the Apps -- A Handheld Revolution) 2) iPad is, in fact, an even better form factor for "apps." 3) Therefore: NetBooks, "Slate computers," eBook readers, UMIDs, and all those other funny names and acronyms -- all those devices are now dead. They might or might not realize it yet, but they are. Heck, I predict that the iPad will eat a bunch of the laptop market. That's enough to make it a revolutionary product. Your complaints are unimportant.  Apple decided not to ship something with 18 different ports, enough horsepower to simulate an entire world, and a battery that, if it ever were to explode, could kill people for blocks around. Because if they did, it would have weighed 40 pounds, emitted enough heat to cook a pizza, and been called the PowerBook G5 -- and it would have looked like this: Apple does not do this any more. Apple chooses to omit things. This makes self-identifying DIEHARD APPLE FANS upset, because they have things like SCSI drives and FireWire video cameras. Sorry, gang. I can't wait to get one, and to write "apps" for it, because if Steve Jobs were a trekkie, it would be called the iPADD. There's already tricorder-like attachments for it. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
4:53 pm	OLPC update from once-in-a-while I just found out there's a low-volume mailing list of SF Bay Area OLPC people, http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf I wish I had known this before because they recently had a meet-up. Hopefully they'll have another, soon. If you have an OLPC XO-1 and are interested in testing a new version of the OS (which is, once again, much much better than all previous versions (but not bug-free yet!), you can visit http://wiki.laptop.org/go/F11_for_XO-1 to find out how to help. Testing involves joining a low-volume mailing list, and spending an hour or two downloading a build onto a USB thumb drive and installing. It does wipe your XO clean, so back up your masterpieces. If you have an OLPC XO-1 which you do not want any more, here's what you do: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Donate_Your_Get_One (Comment on this)
3:45 pm	Two and a half pseudo-"recipes" So I have, on occasion, made chicken thighs confit, roughly following the "recipe" of Mark Bittman. (I can't find the link right now, but it was basically to put fresh sage, thyme, rosemary, and salt and chicken in a pot and slowly cook in olive oil -- and not much more detail than that.) There's only one problem with this plan: It's very easy to put too much salt into the recipe, and that's not exactly "good eats." So I had a bunch of way-too-salty chicken thighs, so I thought, "maybe I can put this into a tomato sauce," so I chopped up like 3-4 sticks of celery, 3-4 carrots, and 2 onions, and cooked them down in a bit of the poultry-flavored olive oil, and then added a can of chopped tomatoes and the chicken meat, tasting as I went so I didn't end up with the sauce being too salty. This was delicious, and you should eat it. The chicken meat more-or-less disappeared into the sauce (it was falling apart before I added it), but the taste was savory and delicious. It's not a smooth puree like your typical jar sauce, but that actually works well in the recipe to follow. (If you just have to have puree, use a blender.) Anyway, ReadyMade magazine has been sending me copies of their magazine, which is full of hipster-DIY projects, and one of them was "Make Your Own Ricotta Cheese." Ricotta is one of my favorite things. I eat it on bagels instead of cream cheese, and roll up inside tortillas for ghetto manicotti. (OK, I realize this is not helping my credibility as a chef.) Anyway, the recipe ReadyMade advocates is ridiculously simple: put four parts whole milk and one part buttermilk in a pan, and heat until the curds and whey separate, and then strain the curds in cheesecloth, and add a little salt. That's it. (My pal nonelvis made the considerably more butter-fatty version in Gourmet and put that into a cheesecake, which sounds really good, actually.) This reminded me that I had some ricotta in the fridge, and I was hungry, so I made a simplified version of baked ziti for dinner. This is an extremely fast recipe -- takes like 5 minutes longer than boiling pasta. (I suspect home-made ricotta would be wasted here. Also, my apologies to the gluten-intolerant.) Heat up the tomato sauce, and boil up some ziti or penne or what have you until it's a little too al dente. Drain, and keep a little pasta water. Put the pasta back in the pot, and add 60% ricotta, 20% grated cheese, 20% mozzarella (cubed or shredded), and some pasta water, and stir like the dickens until everything is coated well and some of the cheese ends up inside the tubes. Add pasta water whenever it looks dry.  Next ladle some tomato sauce (that chicken-and-veggie sauce is very nice here) into a bowl, and then put some pasta in the bowl, next to some broccoli or asparagus, and top with a little more sauce and maybe a little more grated cheese. Serve. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
10:38 pm	Donating to Haiti At the advice of ikkyu2, I donated to Partners In Health, because he says that that organization had established operations there, and can use the money to fly in doctors to start fixing people: https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake I also donated to Americares, my favorite charity: http://www.americares.org/ They use donations to ship otherwise-donated medical supplies and water purifiers, so a small donation turns into a lot of help. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 4th, 2010
6:17 pm	real-wishes.com works, sorta-kinda I've been feeling pretty burned out about work, recently (I tend to get the blahs around this time every year). I forget how I found http://www.real-wishes.com but I decided to try it out. I won't "spoil" the experience of using the site, but the instructions provided make sense, and none are especially "witchy." This made things easier for me to do, and increased the likelihood of the process working. (I doubt anything would happen if you didn't follow the instructions.) Anyway, after 3-4 days, I found an idea that was exciting and fun, and by day 9, I had completed a small project, and that boosted my confidence right up. The next trick will be maintaining this attitude for a while. I don't know if any witches actually cast any spells to help me, but if they did, so be it, and if not, the site worked anyway. The site will urge you to donate $8, but you don't have to. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
3:11 pm	Lazyweb: help me find my passion Every year around this time I get depressed because it's another year gone, and what have I done? NOTHING.1 You might have this disease. You might have a thing you go back to, to get inspiration. What is that thing? Someone asked me my hobbies: Cooking -- I love to cook. I eat a little too much, but I won't let that stop me Art-making -- especially painting/collage. I wish I would do more. Also I wish I would learn to draw. Writing -- I am not going to guilt myself into writing, but I enjoy it when it happens Making gorgeous things out of software -- I really want to get a different job at $MYCOMPANY Here are some suggestions I've gotten: Think of an art form you like. Convince yourself that the world would be a LOT WORSE if you don't produce a LOT of it. (Kristen makes Monsters, and she thinks that if she doesn't, children will be less happy.) Try a new medium. 1 I mean, other than go to work, pay the rent, produce always blemish-free, on time, slightly enjoyable, and occasionally innovative, super-best-selling software. And keep the house in nominal operating order. But other than THAT, nothing. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 28th, 2009
12:53 am	Will it work? make a wish! http://www.real-wishes.com (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
1:32 pm	Insane video leads to two more which form a kind of balanced inspiration I forget what caused me to find this video of Mike Rowe selling crap on QVC and making a startling admission: ( Anyway, this led me to two other videos which were kind of inpirational... ) (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
12:41 pm	A LazyWeb Christmas Wish What I really want for Christmas is a recommendation for a workshop or intensive class where I can immerse myself in making art, especially painting-type activity. A few years ago, I took a "vision painting" workshop at Esalen -- I suppose I could go back there -- but I wonder if there's anything closer to San Jose, maybe not quite so earthy-crunchy. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
5:56 pm	Been a long time, so here's an XO update EDIT: Gizmodo, and especially their commenters, have really hit it: http://gizmodo.com/5432351/olpc-xo+3-an-impossible-75-fantasy-tablet-i-want-to-believe-in Earlier this year, there were pictures shown of a new OLPC model, "XO-2," which would have two multi-touch screens. Unfortunately, that got cancelled: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/03/company.changing.focus.following.layoffs/ Now they are talking about a model "XO-3": http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/22/olpc.xo.3.may.get.camera.wireless.power/ http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/tablet-computer-negroponte-technology-cio-network-olpc.html In the mean time, they are currently making small batches of "XO-1.5" models, which are cost-reduced versions of the XO-1, and planning an "XO-1.75" model, which will use ARM processors. I still have my OLPC XO-1. Maybe you have one, too? If so, you should be helping test the newest release of their software, because it's WAY better than the previous releases. It's a pretty widely-supported "Remix" of Fedora's "F11" version. Because more of the OLPC's OS is standard: 1) the OLPC company has less work to do, and might just survive even though they have fewer programmers on staff, and 2) It's getting easier and better to run OLPC simulators on "regular" laptop computers -- which typically have full-size keyboards. (I'll admit, I can't type on that little keyboard.) (Also, maybe Fedora can use some of OLPC's power-saving code.) You can find out more, here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/F11_for_XO-1 (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
2:23 am	Bragging about my prowess Worship me: I replaced the kitchen faucet tonight. Honestly, this is one of the tougher bits of home plumbing there is. It's actually harder than "replace a dishwasher" (which I have done), but less hard than "fix a leaking pipe in the ceiling" (which I haven't). Not sure if it's harder than "replace a toilet" -- but I hope never to find that out. The thing that makes it hard is that the faucet is bolted onto the sink, and the bolt is always underneath, behind the sink basins, way up back there. This presents two problems: 1) You have to know precisely where the nut is, what size it is, what it is made out of, and what it's going to look like, before you will ever be able to see it. (It's like those adventure game magic words -- they don't work until the wizard has actually TOLD them to you.) Once you know all this stuff, and can visualize it with complete stability for an extended period of time, you have to remove everything from under the sink -- definitely including the water filtration equipment, maybe the drain pipes, hopefully not the garbage disposal. Then you have to crawl up inside the cabinet underneath, squirm up in there, somehow get a light in there, and then, and only then, you will be able to SEE the nut. Of course, there's no possible way you will be able to TOUCH the nut. Oh maybe, if you can dislocate your shoulder, or turn your arm to rubber like Reed Richards, MAYBE you can touch it. But even if, through some miracle, you COULD touch the nut, there's no possibility of loosening it. There's a gap of approximately 4 air molecules around the nut, between it and the wall and the sink basin. You could never use a typical wrench to loosen the nut, and there's pipes sticking out about 14 inches from the nut, so a socket isn't going to work, either. 2) To loosen the nut, you need a BASIN WRENCH. A Basin Wrench is the best single-purpose tool I ever found out about yesterday. It's an automatically-sizing, ratcheting, pipe wrench, with a swivel head, and a long rod and a handle. It's specifically designed to apply the correct kind of force on that nut, and is a bargain at only $40. Here's how it works: a) You climb under the sink, and maneuver the wrench's ratchet head onto the nut by waving the rod around wildly while yelling from the pain of jamming your neck sideways up against a wood screw that someone put in the side of the cabinet. b) Then you climb back out from under the sink while trying ever so carefully not to disrupt the placement of the wrench. c) Repeat 20 - 30 times, cursing loudly, until you figure out that you can use a rolled up towel to prop the wrench into place, and if you do it JUST RIGHT, it will balance in place for 4 seconds before falling. d) Become adept at getting out from under the sink in under 6 seconds. Repeat the cycle of attaching the wrench and slithering out from under the sink many times until through some miracle the wrench stays in place. e) Now gently twist the handle and realize that you'd put the head on the wrong way. Invent a new curse involving at least two different phyla of the animal kingdom as you go back to Step A. f) Once you gently twist the handle, you will find that the faucet is just loose enough to twist about without the nut actually loosening. Curse profoundly while whacking the faucet repeatedly with a big wrench, hoping that it will magically become disconnected. g) Pour yourself a stiff drink, collect yourself, and find your domestic partner, who will be hiding in their car. Apologize at length for your cursing, and beg them to hold the wrench on the faucet while you attempt to loosen the nut. (The next several minutes you won't remember, because the force necessary to loosen the nut will cause extremely high blood pressure-related short term memory loss, and hopefully only temporary visual aberrations.) h) Bob's your uncle. You are now holding an ugly nut, worth 4 cents, and a $40 wrench which you will NEVER use EVER again except to gloat at your friends. "HAH!" you will say, "I have a BASIN WRENCH and I REPLACED MY KITCHEN FAUCET!! Look upon my works, ye mortals, and be very impressed." (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
1:36 pm	Anything is better with the SPACE:1999 theme (for those that do not know, first watch the original.) Theory: Anything is better with the SPACE:1999 theme added. Evidence: CBS News 13 Oh, I know, you're thinking, "Pish tosh! Surely not EVERYTHING?!" But yes, I am quite confident in my assessment. This mashup should provide sufficient proof. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 27th, 2009
12:10 am	Sad and Happy Thanksgiving. The other day, we had to have a stray cat put to sleep. Not much choice in the matter, the thing was in terminal stages of feline AIDS, but I signed a consent paper, and then we stood there and petted him and tried as best as we could to make those last few minutes pleasant, while the sedative kicked in. My dad passed away after a long illness, but at least he got better enough to enjoy a final bite of life before he did. Bulleit Bourbon is on sale at the Safeway. It's very good stuff. I am thankful that my sister is doing well. She has a great daughter. They, and my mom, are at my uncle's in western Massachusetts for the traditional thanksgiving. My uncle stirs Manhattans up, in honor of some of the sainted aunts who used to have just one, once a year, on Thanksgiving. Last night I saw my old pal and her husband and two daughters. It was actually a bit humorous -- the kids are pretty wild, but that's pretty much to be expected for kids their age. It was enjoyable. I wish we had our own kid there too, but so far, not so much. I am thankful for friends nearby. We went by their house and brought some food, and some Manhattans. There are many friends I have, and I am extremely thankful for them. The women are all smarter than average and the men are all attractive. My life, I should have no complaints. My wife is superb. The cats are charming. The job is stable, and the house is pleasant. We have art on the walls, and I made some of it. We just got back from the Stanford Theatre, were we saw The Thin Man, and My Man Godfrey, and listened to their excellent organ. And I am making Suffering Bastards. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 9th, 2009
11:13 pm	My Top 3 Cocktails (Week ending 2009-11-08) 1) Bourbon + Ginger Ale (4) 2) Old Fashioned (3) (with home made cocktail cherry) 3) Tequila Por Mi Amante "Sour" (2) (Comment on this)
8:16 am	Beautiful signs http://www.flickr.com/photos/society_in_decline/sets/72157594323475636/ (Comment on this)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
11:41 pm	My father has passed away. Several months ago, my father suddenly fell ill. He was 77, and had always had a weak heart, so it was not all that surprising how severely and suddenly he became sick. Due to the super-powers of the doctors of the Mass General Hospital, they figured out that his illness was a tick-borne infection similar to Lyme Disease, but different. ( He made enormous improvements, and then suddenly, on November 1, he died. I talk about the illness in more detail, and try to remember some of his life, in the cut. ) (22 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 26th, 2009
4:28 pm	Gear pr0n of the day iPhone programming book has a great idea: Each key idea in a working program. I hope it's as good as it sounds: http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=9780137058426 Pocket digital oscilloscope is $90: Only NINETY DOLLARS? Can I buy two and use them in 3D http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/micro-digital-storage-oscilloscopedso-nano-p-512.html Hobby table saw that is 100% pure WANT: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/electricity-free_tables_aw.html (1 Comment |Comment on this)