tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112030342024-03-12T21:52:47.769-07:00Ross Randomly RantsRoss has opinions, and will probably feel free to express them.
Ross will usually try to retain a tone of rationality, despite the promise evident in the title.-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-22455878546887485612009-07-07T03:28:00.001-07:002009-07-07T03:28:24.670-07:00How not to measure temperatureFormer TV Weatherman Anthony Watts asked an interesting question one day. He wondered if the kind of paint used to protect the shelters that hold the thermometers used for over a hundred years to measure local temperatures mattered. So he did a little research, found some recipes for classic whitewash and some samples of modern paints and set up an experiment. Along the way, he got a look at a -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-71767599053152333722009-05-11T21:36:00.001-07:002009-05-11T21:36:01.658-07:00House of LeavesI just finished reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Tempting as it is to indulge in the kinds of odd typography layout used in the book in a review, it just doesn't seem worth the effort. The one indulgence I'll allow myself is the color blue applied to all occurrences of the word "house". The rest is just too much work to do here. The book as a substantial work, at something like 700-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-75250814586560780162009-02-14T01:05:00.001-08:002009-02-14T01:13:23.997-08:00I told you RFID didn't belong in passports!<rant> A recent RISKS issue contains this item contributed by the editor, Peter G. Neumann: Using inexpensive off-the-shelf components (a Motorola RFID reader and antenna, and a PC) ... Chris Paget ... built a mobile platform in his spare time that can clone large numbers of the unique RFID tag electronic identifiers used in U.S. passport cards and next generation drivers licenses. While -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-36233838444436925922009-02-13T01:25:00.001-08:002009-02-13T01:25:35.514-08:00Coraline, now in theaters in 3DWe saw Coraline[IMDB][wiki] the other day. It was shown in one of the new digitally projected 3D systems at our local multiplex. Wow. I was very taken with the book by Neil Gaiman, who is one of my favorite authors. It is a simple story about a young girl who feels neglected by her workaholic parents. They move to an old house that has been divided into flats, taking the large flat for their own.-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-35803613425159280452009-01-07T00:59:00.001-08:002009-01-07T00:59:07.949-08:00Valuable, Open Content Creation ToolsAs a software developer, I am certainly no enemy of commercial software. However, the quality of some of the free and open source alternatives has been giving their commercial competitors quite a run for their money. This is especially true for the casual or occasional user. It would be extremely difficult to justify a complete set of professional-level commercial tools just to support a hobby, -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-62881562286065755272008-10-01T22:25:00.001-07:002008-10-01T22:25:52.398-07:00XKCD on AnathemToday's XKCD is a review, of sorts, of Neal Stephenson's new novel Anathem. Randal seems concerned about the amount of invented vocabulary required for basic comprehension of the story. While sympathetic to Randal's point, I suspect he hasn't devoted quite enough attention span to get what Stephenson is actually up to in this one. It is the sort of book where putting it down too soon will make it-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-82328315791753322072008-08-29T00:31:00.001-07:002008-08-29T00:31:02.696-07:00There's always time for the comics!Here's another couple of web comics mentioned today at Questionable Content: Schlock Mercenary Sci-Fi silliness. Over 3000 strips so far, one a day, with no missed days. The artist says he wants to hit 10000 at a minimum, so it won't be disappearing any time soon. I've just started reading at the beginning, and it looks promising. Nothing even PG so far, and probably safe to open in an office. -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-90235152012303594232008-07-23T03:11:00.001-07:002008-07-23T03:11:01.296-07:00What Is Science?In a presentation to the National Science Teacher's Association in 1966, Richard Feynman said Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that the lessons are all true. You must here distinguish--especially in teaching--the science from the forms or procedures -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-50270489293548843002008-06-25T03:22:00.000-07:002008-06-25T03:23:14.880-07:00This Summer's Guilty PleasureWe spent a couple of hours watching game shows tonight. Yes, game shows. Silly game shows. Silly but entertaining train-wrecks in slow motion kind of game shows. First up was Wipeout. Imagine running an obstacle course for best time in a field of 24, with a cash prize of US$50K for the winner. Now imagine that the course designers were nuts. Think rodeo clown nuts. And that some network suit -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-6513756644770223152008-06-04T01:29:00.001-07:002008-06-06T10:44:21.896-07:00My phones don't ringWe noticed over the weekend that our phones aren't ringing as much as they used to. Then I happened to hear the dumbest phone in the house chirp. Out of curiosity I picked up the receiver to find someone waiting for me to answer. Some investigation showed that the problem lies outside of the house. It was easy enough to unplug the house from the Network Interface (NID in phone jargon) and plug -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-3246969481643884922008-01-04T01:54:00.000-08:002008-01-08T00:00:03.107-08:00Twin Musicals to End the YearWe ended the year on a Hollywood Musical note, but perhaps not the traditional sort... First, over the weekend we made it up to our local Krikorian branch to see the Tim Burton treatment of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Then on New Year's Eve, we watched John Travolta carry off Divine's role on the "Shake and Shimmy" DVD edition of this years film version of -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-15434155184924964252007-12-23T18:27:00.001-08:002007-12-23T18:27:47.681-08:00Things learned when searching GoogleWhile looking for something else entirely, I tripped over some general computer knowledge pages at http://vlaurie.com/ which included the surprising bit of trivia that there is a kind of font editor shipping in XP, but not well known. It is the Private Character Editor, and is intended to allow an end user to design characters in the Unicode range dedicated for private use. This is the -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-16760665366644140012007-12-15T23:44:00.000-08:002007-12-15T23:48:42.439-08:00An impressive single-taskerWe've all had the experience of taking a string of Christmas lights out of the box, testing them to prove they work, stringing them up, and finding that now they don't work. Until now, I haven't known of a better solution than to inspect each bulb individually, which is a painful process. This year, I found the right tool for the job: the Lightkeeper Pro. Its advertising, packaging, and even its-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-48956231238660074252007-11-12T02:00:00.001-08:002007-11-12T02:00:21.257-08:00Comics that remind me of a certain someoneOne art form that seems specifically designed for the world wide web is the comic strip. A daily three-panel strip at a legible resolution fits neatly on a page, and even a Sunday special rarely requires a scroll bar. More importantly, the web permits an artist a degree of editorial freedom that can never be had from formal syndication. It also has a potentially world-wide audience, and with a -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-84555447757277664312007-09-10T23:36:00.001-07:002007-09-10T23:36:16.701-07:00Rory, Cat, Requiescat in Pace Rorschach (Rory)b. ca. January, 1991d. August 27, 2007A Faithful Feline Forever. On the twenty-seventh day of August, 2007, at four hours past noon, our cat Rory died of heart failure. He was nearly 17 years old. Rory is survived by his companions in feline mischief Emily and Apostrophe, and by Michelle and I, his faithful staff. Rory (short for Rorschach) was born to an unknown mother -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-49478954440586850312007-08-24T01:40:00.001-07:002007-08-24T01:40:48.595-07:00RFID Passports RevisitedI've written about RFID and passports before, but have let most of the recent news about its interaction with the new biometric passport standards slip. But I can't pass up the latest tidbit. The problem with RFID in general is that you can't make reasoned arguments against it without sounding like a kook that is afraid of black helicopters and mind probes. The thing is, that there really -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-78457514257971902042007-08-22T00:55:00.001-07:002007-08-22T00:55:48.009-07:00Mooning AgainSince I last mentioned the Lua programming language in these pages, it has seen a surge in visibility. Yes, I know that is a coincidence, because I am pretty sure I don't have enough readers of my random musings to have had an effect. But it is interesting to see that it has sustained its place in the TIOBE top 20 at the respectable position of #15 this month. Since TIOBE doesn't appear to keep -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-10388643424200795872007-08-20T00:18:00.001-07:002007-08-20T00:19:55.505-07:00And Now, in Cat News I haven't written much in this space before about the cats that actually own my house and run my life. That is mostly because I have been more interested in technical topics or entertainment. The existence of cats and that they are in charge was generally not germane to either of those topics. Lately, our oldest cat Rory (short for Rorschach for the perfect ink blot mark folded along his spine)-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-1216150591739335842007-06-03T01:12:00.001-07:002007-06-03T01:14:07.117-07:00Rosemary's, Mac King, and SpamalotWe just returned from a short jaunt to that great blinding spot in the desert, Los Vegas. The trip was designed to let us stuff ourselves silly, and see some silly shows. It was a complete success. We had a phenomenal dinner at a small restaurant well off the strip called Rosemary's. The whole experience was wonderful, with just the right combination of good service, great food, and good beer. We-rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-14691242121713110712007-05-07T02:59:00.000-07:002007-05-07T03:19:44.668-07:00New look for my rantingTo confirm the obvious, Ross Randomly Rants has a new look. Blogger revised its systems a while back, and recently pushed all of us into their new format. Since they allowed us to preserve our existing templates and page designs, this change probably had little or no visible effect aside from requiring some people to have Google accounts.Here at ranting central, I finally got around to finding -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-86172592890170685772007-05-06T18:48:00.001-07:002007-05-07T01:46:15.133-07:00MOOve over business cards Long-time users of Flickr have probably already heard of MOO, but since the short-lived free promotion has long since expired I thought I would share my experience with them and one of their products. The executive summary is that I am very happy with their product and service. Moo is a printing company in England that is providing a novel service. They make custom printed social cards and -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-81271355367043943692007-04-18T02:07:00.003-07:002007-05-07T03:13:39.585-07:00Raving about a moon Several months ago I tripped over a little language called Lua. It seemed like a novel idea, but its absence of curly braces and lack of ++, += and similar operators felt uncomfortable after years of C, and I didn't look very close. Then I started to notice it hiding in the most unlikely places, culminating in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom where the development team claims that over 40% of LR is -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-1174725145646314642007-03-24T02:32:00.000-07:002007-05-07T01:49:08.236-07:00A Box of (slightly) Puzzling MysterySo I get home from work the other day, and a small, white, cubical mailing carton is waiting on the doorstep. Since that isn't all that unusual, it got nudged inside without much thought. A little later, Michelle noticed it and wondered what I had ordered since it wasn't hers after all. Looking at the label didn't answer any questions. It was, indeed, addressed to me. My name was spelled -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-1174373371767850102007-03-20T00:49:00.000-07:002007-05-07T01:37:32.343-07:00Saving What?<rant> I keep meaning to research and write a meaningful and coherent piece about the madness that is called Daylight Saving Time in the US, and Summer Time in other places, but I keep finding clocks I've forgotten about. My wristwatch that keeps accurate time by listening to radio broadcasts on WWVB (tune the right kind of receiver to 60000 Hz out of Boulder, CO for a bit stream pulse -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11203034.post-1173651503874230142007-03-11T16:18:00.000-07:002007-03-11T16:18:23.936-07:00And I though LA Traffic was bad...I was following up on a recent article on an open source project that builds Windows Installer packages (.msi and .msn files) called WiX and wandered off to its lead developer Rob Mensching's blog where he had this post about driving in India: Its like Frogger! That post links to this video at YouTube. All I can say is that I'm surprised the 2 minute clip doesn't include at least one fatal -rkb-http://www.blogger.com/profile/10095346688283970562noreply@blogger.com0