My honest opinion? If you're a typographer, and you make a font wherein one cannot easily differentiate between an upper case "I", a lower case "l", and the numeral "1" at a size of 10 pt., you should do jail time for this crime. Also, you owe the entire internet a beer.

Call me a radical, but sometimes you just have to take a stand.

There's a capability that spacesuits should have that should be cheap and fairly easy to implement but that I haven't heard mentioned.

A spacesuit should be aware of its location and the relative locations of other spacesuits, vehicles, and anything else with which it maintains radio contact. The audio system within the helmet should take this into account. If you're in a suit on an EVA and another astronaut who is above, behind, and to the left of you speaks, it should sound like they're above, behind, and to the left.

This would be particularly useful for moon and Mars colonies, where lengthy EVAs could put significant distance between astronauts and terrain could impede line of sight. It doesn't even have to be precise, but if a natural language statement like "Hey, look at this!" doesn't need to be followed by a location statement or require that the other astronaut look around to see where their companion is to respond then I think that'll be both more efficient and make interaction while suited more natural and less distracting.

One might even want the system to adjust a speaker's volume (to a point) according to their distance.

Just a thought.

Courtesy of Abstruse Goose

Part 1:



Part 2:

My 10 minute drive home from work tonight was... eventful. Good and bad, and now I'm both elated and worried sick.

I checked my voice mail (in case you're wondering, the car links to my phone via BlueTooth and acts as a speaker phone) and had two messages.

One was from one of the people behind the Save The Sarah Connor Chronicles campaign. They've been running a sweepstakes and, holy crap, I won the grand prize! Soon I'll be receiving a blu-ray player (which I've been wanting to steal buy ever since I found out that the blu-ray for Terminator: Salvation will be loaded with extras while the DVD will have squat), and I'll also be getting this:



It's season one of TSCC, autographed by Thomas Dekker (John Connor). Not damn bad!!! Needless to say, it's going into the Terminator Shrine.

I'd be overjoyed right now were it not for the second voice mail message, which was from my dad. He's in the hospital. As of right now they don't know what's wrong, but there's a good chance that it's serious. I called my sister after I got home to get further information, but at the moment it doesn't look like there is much. I'll be calling Dad in the morning. In the meantime, how the hell do I respond to such a nondescript-but-clearly-serious situation?

By worrying.

Until the situation with Dad is resolved, I'm considering any plans to be tentative. Unless it turns out to be a whole lot of nothing, I'll be going to visit him some time soon. Stay tuned...

Two great tastes that taste great together!



Major thanks to james_the_evil1 for the link!

Happy Birthday, aclaro!!! I hope it's amazingly fantastic!

The ingredients list on my breakfast is 38 words long. 12 of those words are "Organic". The front of the box advertises "NO GMOs" "NO BIOENGINEERED INGREDIENTS".

As a result, I feel just a little bit guilty.

The whole flexitarian thing has worked out smashingly well. I'm eating almost no meat at all, and not missing it a bit. I absolutely love veggie burgers, soy milk, and just about every product that Amy's puts out.

Unfortunately, the food that I like seems to frequently be wrapped up in social/political positions that I oppose. I do not subscribe to the idea that "natural = better". I recognize that mankind has been engineering our crops for millennia, and that genetically modified food is the key to feeding humanity, to say nothing of potentially improving the overall quality of our food. I understand the fallacy of "organic" food. I'm also a big supporter of nuclear power and food irradiation, and think that our world is significantly worse off as a result of the ill-informed political efforts against them.

I place no intrinsic value on something being "natural" or "organic". They are descriptors (and fuzzy ones at that), not value judgments. Neither word means "beneficial". And yet I can't seem to buy the types of food that I enjoy without also supporting this marketing spin to which I am opposed.

If I could find, for example, soy milk that was advertised as "Irradiated with Cobalt-60!" or "Made using transgenic soybeans engineered for better nutrition, higher crop yields in poor soil, and pest resistance!" or even just "Luddite free!" I'd probably drink that brand exclusively. :-) (Okay, that last one gets into fuzzy marketing spin, but you get the idea.)

I had an e-mail exchange with femetal this morning, wherein some poly-related issues were brought up, discussed, and (I think) ultimately resolved. The specifics aren't terribly important, but what does matter is that an emotionally-charged issue was dealt with quickly and in a productive manner. This isn't unusual for us (though our face-to-face conflict resolution can appear to be quite... "passionate"... to the outside observer), but it highlighted a few very basic rules that may not be obvious, and which I think are in large part responsible for the ongoing success of our (going on 20 year!) relationship.

Rule #1: Communicate.

Rule #2: No, seriously. Communicate constantly.

Rule #3: Dude! I mean it! Freaking tell each other everything!

Rule #4: Always deal with your partner as a partner, and someone whose situation you are actively seeking to optimize, rather than as an adversary. Make their happiness as much of a goal as your own. You can have a disagreement with someone and still be philosophically "on their side"!

Rule #4.5: Corollary- In dealing with your partner, assume that they're doing the same thing, and working toward your common good. In CorpSpeak this is referred to as "assuming positive intent", and I think that it's far more applicable to intimate relationships than it is to work-related ones. If for some reason you can't open yourself up enough to trust your partner to have your best interests at heart even during a disagreement then it may be time to seriously re-evaluate the relationship as a whole.

Rule #5: When you're wrong, whether it's on the entire issue or simply one small point, admit it! Trying to defend an untenable position is frustrating and pointless! Conversely, by abandoning a point where you're wrong, apologizing sincerely, and making appropriate amends, you get to be no longer wrong!

When you're on the same side, "winning" an argument doesn't come from simply getting "the other side" to concede. It comes from coming to a mutual agreement about the situation and the appropriate course of action, and moving forward together.

Happy birthday, compass_rose!! I look forward to sharing some pints with you tonight!

49 38 Questions for Grownups

Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids?! 'Have you ever kissed someone? Missed someone? Told someone you loved them? Drank alcohol? Bah!

So instead, here: 49 questions for the people who are a little older!

What bill do you hate paying the most?
Um... what?

Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
Define "romantic"? I don't think that my notion of "romantic" would be considered such by the population as a whole. I went to Mimi's with femetal and joreth not too long ago, and drew a stick figure of Shara murdering someone. Does that count?

What do you really want to be doing right now?
femetal and joreth.

How many colleges did you attend?
If you count the 2 summer classes that I took at USF, 2. Everything else was at UF.

Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
I like it, it's pro-science (sort of, since it's an Aperture Science shirt), and it's work safe.

What are your thoughts on gas prices?
The more they go up the faster we get electric cars.

First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
Dunno. I don't generally start recording until after I've started moving. I think that "The Bed's Too Big Without You" by The Police was running through my head, though.

Last thought before going to sleep last night?
The last thing I clearly remember is envisioning my brain being pulled out of my head and packed in a box. Seriously.

Do you miss being a child?
LOL!! How can I miss something that I haven't yet parted with?

What errand/chore do you despise?
The chore I hated most in the world was mowing the lawn. Now we pay to have it done! :-)

Get up early or sleep in?
OMG SLEEP IN!!!

Have you found real love yet?
A few times!

Favorite lunch meat:
Do veggie burgers count? If I've gotta pick flesh, strange as it may seem I *really* love liverwurst.

What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart?
A feeling that I'm buying low-quality products?

Beach or lake?
Clothing-optional swimming pool! Second choice: Clothing optional beach. (See a trend?)

Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
As a whole, no, but it's in desperate need of a revamp. Get government out and/or expand it to include LGBT and poly groups!

Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?
I've seen like 3 episodes of Sopranos and none of Desperate Housewives. I guess I'll go with Sopranos, since it has violence and nudity.

What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Hmmmm... Dawkins? Feynman? (I've never had dinner with a zombie before!) Miss Poly Manners? ;-)

Have you ever crashed your vehicle?
Amazingly, no. I have spun out when I had a tire blow out, though. That was an exciting 10 seconds!

Ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?
Oddly enough, I don't believe so.

Ring tone?
I have a few, but my default is a .wav of Gir (my laptop) saying "Alert! Incoming voice call!" (using Zarvox.)

Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
In my mouth?!?

Somewhere in California you've never been and would like to go?
Cupertino, and San Jose so joreth can show me around her home town.

Do you go to church?
Not anymore.

At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?
Well, I just started a new relationship and it's going smashingly well, but I'm not looking to add another right now. A new career could be exciting as hell if it's the right career. Not sure what that would be, though.

How old are you?
39

Do you have a go to person?
I "go to" Kim for so many things that one could put forth a reasonable argument that I am not, in fact, a complete and autonomous person.

Are you where you want to be in life?
There's always room for improvement, but holy cow- my life kicks ass!!

Growing up, what were your favorite cartoons?
Hmmm... Superfriends, Robotech, Flash Gordon, Transformers

What about you do you think has changed the most?
I'm bigger. I'm also allowed to buy porn, drive a car, eat cereal for dinner, and play video games pretty much whenever I want to.

Looking back at high school were they the best years of your life?
Oh HELL NO!!

Are there times you still feel like a kid?
It would be more accurate to say that there are times when I don't.

Did you ever own troll dolls?
No.

Did you have a pager?
When? I used to have one for work, but not as a kid.

Where was the hang out spot when you were a teenager?
It changed. My house, Mission Bell, a friend's house, Main Street (on Dale Mabry, where Mimi's is now. There used to be an arcade there.)

Were you the type of kid you would want your children to hang out with?
My "children" are robots, so sure! I've always taken good care of my toys.

Who do you think impacted your life the most?
Kim. Sure, we didn't meet until I was 18, but her impact on my life has been monumental.

Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out for you?
There were a few.

--Okay. Your turn!

Happy birthday to my favorite nomad!!

I started playing The Matrix Online the day it came out, and while it had some limitations, frustrations, and bugs (as did the computer I was running it on) I had some really good times in the game. Eventually I stopped playing and switched (if briefly) to WoW, primarily because it's what everyone I know who was into MMORPGs played. Conversely, I only knew one other person playing MxO (thanks again, nihilus!). Peer pressure won the day, but the reality is that, despite some significant advantages, WoW just never grabbed me like MxO did. The world is compelling (it picks up right where the movies end) and the premise is exactly the sort of thing that I'm into- a secret war taking place in a high tech, urban, cyberpunk environment.

Plus, the clothing was straight up awesome, I could chat on AIM directly from within the Matrix, and the dedicated internet radio station (Radio Free Zion) played great music and covered events in game live. Even if I wasn't playing the game, I was still listening to it.

Despite quitting, I have to admit that I never fully got the game out of my system. As stereotypically geeky as it sounds, I have some fantastic memories of my time in the Matrix, and I always held out a tiny hope that it'd blossom into its full potential. I'd take a peek at the forums from time to time, and even though I knew that the game wasn't doing well I toyed around with the idea of jacking back in as recently as 6 months or so ago.

Alas, it is not to be. It comes as no surprise, but Sony is pulling the plug on The Matrix Online at midnight tonight. So today I'm wearing my MxO shirt as a small tribute (they were given to the game devs- I got mine on eBay), and will be listening to the events leading up to the end on the streaming radio that currently covers the game.

* Mom was pregnant with me (just started the 2nd trimester)

* Dad was setting up a camera on a tripod to photograph the TV (he'd later discover to his disappointment that there was no film in the camera).

* And the greatest single engineering project in the history of mankind was about to culminate with the first manned moon landing.

BTW, you can hear it "live plus 40" at http://www.wechoosethemoon.com . They've been playing the *entire* mission.

In deliberately pseudo-random order:

* I sprained my left wrist while skating on Sunday. It's not too bad, but I've been wearing a brace on it this week and babying it some. Unfortunately that means that I've been putting off a project at work that involves a fair amount of heavy lifting, so I'll need to make up for it sometime soon.

* I'm still playing the strategy game at ResistOrBeTerminated.com, and it's going quite well! I currently command the largest squadron in the entire game, and we're doing a marvelous job of exterminating humanity!

* Corollary: It's easy to kill most of the humans. It's hard to kill all of the humans!

* Nobody told me that VNV Nation has a new album out! If you are reading this then you have earned 5 Treason Points.

* Corollary: One of the songs' lyrics are taken entirely from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" This band can do no wrong!

* I've developed a new affection for swimming pools, and it has nothing to do with swimming. It seems like every time I step into one something awesome happens. By "awesome" I of course mean "involving nudity". Have I mentioned that I have the best friends on the planet?

Corollary: Life has become more... interesting... fairly suddenly, and in a very good and unexpected way. Not sure what to call this yet or if/where it's headed, but it involves a lot of making out and that is most definitely NOT a bad thing! It started as a "friends who casually make out" sort of thing, but (in my ignorant and heavily biased opinion) seems to be headed toward something more. Whatever it is, I like it. :-)

Sub-Corollary: I've de-tasked the orbiting Ion Cannon and deleted tacit from the target tracking system, thereby sweeping away the last vestiges of the once epic archnemesistic (just made up that word!) clash between us. I shall miss the assassination attempts and the stashing of hidden caches of ammunition within his own domicile but, as was learned earlier this year at Frolicon, the benefits of cooperation are simply too great to pass up. Oh, and Franklin, I'm e-mailing you the formula for the antidote to the poison that's been slowly accruing in your system over the last few years.

* Three days ago was the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. I've never known a world where humanity hadn't walked on the moon, but I've spent enough time studying the details of how it was done to be moved to tears by the thought.

* I received an SMS the other day informing me that I'd been "volunteered" to be on "1.5-2"cryonics panels at Dragon*Con. I of course immediately verified my retroactive agreement. :-) Note to self: Find out if tacit and/or Jay Novella are available/interested!

* Must post Six Flags Magic Mountain report and pics!!

That's it for now. I'll leave you all with a conundrum. If the pink rubber monster tentacle worm toy doesn't explicitly state "For External Use Only" on the package, what conclusion can we best draw from this? Please bear in mind that, for the purposes of this exercise, "best" doesn't necessarily equate with "most accurate".

From tacit, by way of joreth:

"If there is someone on your friends list you would like to take, strip naked with, let them tie you to a bed post, have them lick you until you scream, then fuck until both of you are senseless and unable to fuck anymore, then wait about five minutes and do it all over again, post this exact sentence in your journal."

There are several people on my friends list that I'd like to do this with, and as Joreth says, plus a good number of people I wouldn't mind doing this with all at once! But I'm finding this particularly amusing right now in light of my recent party activities so I'm joining the meme.

And for those of you on my friends list who are reasonably or even just pretty sure that this statement applies to you ... it probably does. If I quoted large chunks of your LJ post in writing this one then you already know the answer... ;-)

Holy cow we're making progress! This is great! The presentation is cool, but the demo at the end is so similar to human dexterity that it's almost eerie.

No, asshats, buying pirated DVDs and downloading movies is NOT stealing! It's copyright violation. They are legally separate and distinct infractions for good reason, and the MPAA's attempt to draw a false equivalency between the two only serves to further erode both their claim to the moral high ground and public sympathy.

I'm not endorsing piracy, but the fact is that your campaign is blatantly lying. Good job trying to cloud the issue, though. :-P

Wherever you are.