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5 Things Every AI Engineer Should Know About Agent Sandboxes
5 Things Every AI Engineer Should Know About Agent Sandboxes Originally shared by Google Cloud Tech on X - September 1, 2026 Google Cloud Tech highlighted five critical considerations for AI engineers …
Agent Plugins Package Your Skills, Tools, and More
Agent Plugins Package Your Skills, Tools, and More Originally published on Google Developers Blog - August 6, 2026 Google has announced Agent Plugins 1.0.0, a new vendor-neutral directory …
2017 09 06 How To Learn
+++ description = “How To Learn — Arthur Knowledge” title = “How to Learn — Meta” categories = [""] tags = [“learning”, “meta”, …
Playing with Elixir is just FUN
I’ve been using Elixir for a few weeks now, sometimes forcing it to play nice with Mongodb/Meteor , which it doesn’t really want to do. Sometimes with Posgres (which it loves). Sometimes …
Meteor and Elixir (part one) A Rocky Courtship
I have been watching Elixir for almost 2 years now, and debating if it’s mature enough for me to invest in.
Obviously Erlang is super-mature, and Elixir is quite stable, but it’s a …
2017 06 14 Pdfjs Ui Simple Proof Of Concept
+++ draft = true author = "" categories = [] date = “2017-06-23T13:27:38-04:00” description = "" featured = "" featuredalt = "" featuredpath = …
Meteor 1.5 ~ Bundle Optimization + Examples
I have been playing with Meteor 1.5 and it’s dynamic imports, which can be used to reduce the amount of javascript code sent to the browser.
This article is a deep dive into how to profile and …
2017 05 29 Memorial Day Homework
+++ date = “2017-05-29T18:28:04-04:00” description = “project time, memorial day, and website hugoized” tags = [“homework”, “kids”,“code”] …
2017 01 01 Nerd Goals
+++ author = “alan” categories = [“nerd”, “elixir”, “machine learning”, “advocacy”] date = “2017-01-01T23:37:35-04:00” …
Best part of CodepaLOUsa so far…
Best part of CodepaLOUsa so far… sitting next to Douglas Crockford at dinner tonight. Occasionally I’m the lucky one. (Hope I didn’t bore him too much) Anyway – having a fun time at CodepaLOUsa and …
Coreos & Docker, great presentation
Found this inspriing presentation from a Chicago Docker meetup: http://www.mediafly.com/news/karl-grzeszczak-september-docker-presentation from: Chicago Docker – September 2014 at Mediafly Thursday, …
Life Changlingly Good TED Radio Hour: “The Source of Creativity”
http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/351538855/the-source-of-creativity Basic summary: “everyone is and can be creative: you just have to be fearless about failing, and practice a bunch.” Led to …
Meteor 0.9.2-rc1 is fun to play with, Cordova support functional
Last night I started playing with `meteor –release 0.9.2-rc1` which you can read about and play with too; check it out here: https://meteor.hackpad.com/Getting-Started-With-Cordova-Z5n6zkVB1xq It’s …
Meteor Core Cordova Support – Alpha Release is out
We’ve been watching this for a while, but now the first Alpha release is out for Meteor + Cordova built into the core. SWEET! Watch the DevShop Presentation on it here: …
Testing tools for Old OS & Browser Combos
Lots of us have to trace down odd bugs and test things on different browsers and OS combinations… Of course, the worst of which is “various versions of IE” on “various versions of Windows”. It seems …
Great advice from Arunoda “Just Contribute!”
http://readme.lk/noticed-tech-crowd-interview-arunoda-susiripala/ This advice might be aimed at people who already consider themselves developers, but there’s a nugget in there that’s perfect for …
Meteor + PhoneGap/Cordova (Roundup – Fall 2013)
UPDATE: see meteor-core-cordova-support-alpha-release-is-out (2014-08-25) for new information About Meteor and PhoneGap / Cordova Meteor is a rapid server/client development framework, written in JS – …
Looking for a new blog platform
I’m working too much to afford the time to build one right now, but I’m looking into a MeteorJS bloging system…. Anyone got a recommendation? @zeroasterisk
MOSSCON 2013 was lots of fun
I had a great time attending and presenting at moscon. http://mosscon.org/ May 18 – 19, 2013 | University of Louisville | Louisville, Kentucky I know it was a lot of work for the people who set it up, …
Windows + Linux guy, switching to OSX
I have recently switched to Mac full-time, coming from a Windows/Linux background. <ul> <li> Take Screenshots: Capture an image of what you see on your computer screen </li> …
Blount 2011 “Year in Review Letter”
Everyone seems to do a great job of sending out yearly letters around the holidays, so here’s our attempt. We collected some of our favorite photos from this year (mostly just the summer and fall) and …
Adobe Connect Issue and Fix: Lingering FMSCore.exe processes
We’ve setup Connect to expire the FMSCore processes after 2 hours, but if someone is still connected to a recording, it will keep the old zombie FMSCore process until that person disconnects. It often …
I’m just Git’ting it
Everyone and their mom have been using Git and GitHub for a while, but I’m just breaking down and using it… I have been slow to adopt because SVN worked for me fine (until I had to merge branches) and …
Ollie and Anita are fine, but stuck in the hospital still
Oliver has been feeling a bit sick for a couple of days, and it was acute yesterday early afternoon – he was doing the “I’m in pain” cry for a half an hour straight and was inconsolable. Very unusual …
CakePHP beforeSave() gotcha: need to set $this->__exists to true if setting a primary key
I added an update to CakePHP Book: beforeSave() Also, if you add a primary key which would turn an “insert” into an “update” within beforeSave() you’ll need to set $this->__exists = true;… the call …
Google Profiles now with content
Alan’s Google Profile, now updated with Buzz activity, searchable, and pulling content from various feeds, including flickr, facebook, twitter, etc… If you don’t see this as “competition” for Facebook …
Oliver is born, go and tell it on the mountain
Most of you have heard from the grapevine or facebook (this generation’s grapevine) that our son, Oliver Jackson Blount, was born on 2010-02-02 @ 14:35 EST. He was 9 pounds 15 ounces and 23 inches …
Google Apps removes support for IE6
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as …
MySQL Master/Slave Replication Monitoring PHP Script
I’m a bit proud of myself on this one… I setup a simple, but clean and configurable, MySQL Master/Slave Replication Monitoring PHP Script: …
fanout, a super useful linux script if you manage multiple, similar servers
I love this fanout script for running the same command on multiple servers, just in case you’re interested: http://www.stearns.org/fanout/fanout [root@199564-6 scripts]# fanout "$SERVERS" …
DarkAuth for the win!
I’ve been working with CakePHP for a few years now and am very happy with it. I’ve been working with the 1.2 version for a few months (since it went stable) and playing with the Auth and ACL core …
A CakePHP gotcha for migrating from 1.1 to 1.2+ on Model->create()
I reported this as a ticket, but as it turns out, it’s a design choice.. but it’s enough of a gotcha that I thought I should report it. What happened The $this->ModelName->create() set the …
Autosearch Craigslist with Google Alerts
Sometimes, I want something only if it’s on the cheap, second hand, and easy… that’s usually Craigslist. Often what I want isn’t available when I think of it… but it might show up sometime… I don’t …
A Month of Site-Downtime
So the website has been down from Oct 21st to Nov 23rd. The old server got hacked (or really, a sister-server) and due to security concerns, we didn’t know what got owned and what was safe. We already …
Our Trip to California
We are home again, from a trip to San Francisco and Sonoma, California. (map) The trip was for April’s wedding (Anita’s sister) to Billie one of our best friends from our three years in Columbus, OH. …
poppy’s first day of school
Poppy’s really thinned out and sped up. At 18 months, she’s about the same height as she was at 14 months, but seems much more thin. Must be all the running, jumping, and climbing she does. She can …
pick-your-own-fruit-photos
I finally uploaded some of the photos we’ve recently taken… Here are our two trips to various “pick your own” farms, for strawberries and blueberries. 2009.06.05 – Strawberry Picking at Huber’s Farm …
WolframAlpha & Google Chrome OS
I recently came across wolframalpha which is really fantastic. It provides a much of data for a very wide variety of searches… basically the neat part is it’s conversion of English statements into …
Potty Time
Poppy is now using her potty. She’s been sitting on it for a while, but this weekend was the first time she actually used it successfully (twice so far). We, of course, cheered and encouraged her… But …
Running and Talking and Loud
Poppy has stopped walking and is pretty much either running to places, or stumble-running. I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, but it is certainly what it seems like. Likewise, she’s still babbling …
Poppy Update, 15.5 months
Poppy is starting to really put things together. She’s long been understanding much more than we would have expected, occasionally doing things we ask her to do which we would never anticipate her …
Poppy at 15 months
<div class="goog-inline-block goog-icon-list-icon"> <div class="goog-icon-list-icon-img-div"> <div class="goog-icon-list-icon-meta"> <a …
Poppy Update – Fast and Furious
Poppy spinning
Poppy has long been termed as a “rough neck” and she certainly earns that title, loving to be thrown around and tickled and rough housing with her peers or adults alike. She has just started spinning …
SVN Merge, making sure a branch is updated from trunk, then merging back to trunk
So I’ve just fought a battle w/ SVN merge and thought I’d post the solution in case others might find it… Scenario Our stable code is in trunk svn://svn.domain.tld/repository/trunk I’ve got a branch …
Mom and Sam’s Visit to Lousiville
Mom and Sam drove to Louisville for a few days this past weekend+ (Friday – Tuesday). We all had a wonderful visit and they played with poppy almost nonstop… as expected. We took full advantage of the …
Poppy Update – 13 months
Poppy is: walking well, though she still staggers like she’s drunk when she’s tired. sometimes eating vegetables, often not – but always eating fruit and crackers are much better starting to learn a …
Winter Weather hits Louisville
It’s been a crazy winter, the last week. The ice storm which took out most of KY’s power only kept us out for a couple of days, but still has some friends down. It was crazy to see all of the trees …
Op-Ed Wall Street’s Jet Setters
Wall Street’s Socialist Jet-Setters By MAUREEN DOWD – Published: January 27, 2009 How are these ruthless, careless ghouls who murdered the economy still walking around (not to mention that sociopathic …
Poppy’s First Birthday
We had a house full for Poppy’s first birthday. Friends came in from Columbus and Lexington, but otherwise we tried to keep it family only… even so we had almost 30 people over and had a wonderful …
Re: Memo to All My Valued Employees
Here’s my response to the following “letter” which I received as a forward today: Letter subject: “Memo to All My Valued Employees” Basic gist of the letter: Most of my time is now occupied with …
Poppy is babbling on all syllables
Penelope is really talking these days. There are still no really discernable words, and for the most part, no reliable mimicking. We can not prompt her and expect a desired response. But she is …
Photobooth photos from Scott and Tami’s wedding
Scott and Tami had a wonderful wedding in Columbus in late fall 2008. We went with Poppy and my mom Cathy. At the wedding they had a photobooth set up and some of the photos went into a scrapbook and …
Poppy’s Room, now with mural
My mom and her friend Joanne painted a wonderful mural on Poppy’s room. I decided to play with a very fun tool called photosynth to stitch together several photos into one unified picture or the room …
Crazy Base Jumping Video with Wing Suits
This is an absolutely crazy base-jumping video, with wing suits. If I didn’t have the life and family I have now, I could see myself wanting to do this, but there’s too much risk involved for me and …
Home from Houston after the Holidays
We went to Houston this year, for Poppy’s first Christmas and spent almost a week with my family. Everyone loved and was amazed by Poppy, of course and she did splendidly. She traveled quite well, …
Obama’s 27 year old speech writter…
Helping to Write History By Eli Saslow Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 18, 2008; Page A01 During the campaign, the buzz-cut 27-year-old at the corner table helped write and edit some …
Wonderful Subversive Advertising
15 Ingenious Humanitarian Subvertisements: Creative Advertisements that Advocate Global Causes more: …
we refinanced our mortgage today
We have refinanced (or at least started the process) and locked in at 4.96 after paying a point (it was 5.6 without the point, lenders wanting up-front money and assurance in today’s market). We are …
repost: If programming languages were religions
A very funny post for the programming nerds out there: If programming languages were religions… By amz – Monday, December 15, 2008 at 14:52 PHP would be Cafeteria Christianity – Fights with Java for …
The Mates of State, the story of taking the family on tour
There’s a great video done by Dan Harris of ABC news on the Mates of State and what the family does when they go on tour. I love the wholesomeness of it and it fits right in with what I think they …
Poppy is walking like a champ
So there’s no going back… Though she’s still holding on to fingers when offered (or when produced after her sometimes insistent request) she is walking all the way across rooms without assistance and …
Recently read an excellent article on walmart’s perception as evil.
An excellent article on Walmart being evil or not – a fairly objective seeming overview of the major points of discussion for the different camps on Walmart. That’s a good thing, right? If a company …
Birth Control Pills Affect Women’s Taste in Men
I thought this was a very interesting article Birth Control Pills Affect Women’s Taste in Men It’s all about scent. Hidden in a man’s smell are clues about his major histocompatibility complex (MHC) …
I Heart Coffee (well, not me actually)
I have never developed a taste for coffee, personally, but I love the smell and I do love all the sugary-icey-foo-foo drinks. Here’s an entertaining story about coffee from Christoph Niemann, an …
G20 – Bush getting snubbed
I’m one of the first to speak out against the current (soon-to-change-thank-god) US government, but this video really does make me sad. I have little to say positive toward G.W.Bush and have certainly …
Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here
One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, ‘I would like …
Mantis to Basecamp to-do(s)
I just created a handy little script to create todos in basecamp for unresovled tickets in mantis. You can see the open sourced code/project: http://code.google.com/p/mantis2basecamp-todo/. This is …
Photos Uploaded
I’ve finally processed and uploaded the photos from my camera. We’ve got new ones from september, october, and november. Most are of Poppy, but not all of them. Some great halloween photos, some …
Obama is our president, and there is much rejoicing
I feel like I should have something profound to say. I’ve been a supporter since I picked up one of his books and have grown more so as I’ve found out more and more about Obama and his family and …
A recent letter from my mom, about her visit and poppy
An email from my Mom who recently visited us. It’s a great recap and update on Poppy, so I’m just pasting in here: I recommend becoming a grandmother — it’s the best! I have just returned from a week …
Poppy Update @ 9 months
We went for Poppy’s nine month old check up today and she is starting to slim down and lengthen. At her 7month visit, she was 19lbs and 27.5inches, and now she is holding steady at 19lbs and up to …
Poppy the talker
Anita recently pointed out to me that Poppy has been talking to herself for weeks. I noticed it and never remarked on it because it seemed normal, but it is worth remarking on. She will be crawling …
most of the poppy photos from September are uploaded
I have uploaded most of the photos from September and the first half of October. We have another card to process at some point, but this should be the majority. September October
This American Life, for the win – re: talking to our kids as much as possible
364: Going Big All of TAL is always great, moving, funny, and every other positive adjective I could think of (yes, I’m a fanboy)… but the first act in this show is about baby education and it’s …
hamachi install error on ubuntu – fixed
I recently re-installed ubuntu (linux) on a server and ran into difficulties installing hamachi. As it turned out I tried to setup hamachi without installing the tun module first. I then installed the …
In 1999, a choice was made to ease lending restrictions
NY Times article: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending : September 30, 1999 In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae …
Quick Poppy Accomplishment Update
Poppy has started really reaching for people when she wants to be held. She also now will usually kiss whomever is holding her. That kiss is often with an open mouth and extended tounge, but we’re not …
money or lives, what do we care about in this country?
Something has come to me, in the light of the current financial crisis in this country… Most people in this country are now aware that we are on the brink of a depression as serious as the one in the …
Wall Street Bailout, explained on Fresh Air’s show Sept. 23, 2008
A fantastic interview on Fresh Air regarding our current state of the economy and the proposed bailout plan, where we are encouraged to not look at the details and just buy… The Wall Street Bailout: A …
Grand Central – Project CARE (phone numbers for the homeless)
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Project CARE (Communications and Respect for …
Poppy is a leaf eater
Anita and many of the mom’s took their offspring to Tyler Park today. Poppy was somewhat fussy, all day and in fact all month… she’s getting teeth and she’s frustrated that she can’t really walk on …
Kentucky Homeschoolers on Parent’s magazine
I saw the following article on a list serve I’ve been lurking on; a simple overview of personal experience with homeschooling… but it’s nice to see local examples get national coverage. Homeschool …
Satirical voting republican
www.ImVotingRepublican.com I’m Voting Republican is a satirical look at the likely outcome of another four years of Republican government. The not-so-subtle message behind the film is the importance …
Back in business, now with power
Saturday night we got back home and were amazed to see lights on. LG&E rigged up some scary looking connections across downed lines (we will not go walking on stilts), but they got our block light …
Pirate name for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”
<td> : </td> <td> <b>Alan Blount</b> </td> <td> : </td> <td> <b>Baginda Mugsy Gladden</b> </td> <td> : </td> …
The big Louisville windstorm of 2008
We’re without power, like most of Louisville. On Sunday afternoon the wind really started picking up. We thought a storm was coming, but we had no idea about the extent. So, stupidly, we went for a …
CakePHP Workshop, in Review
We had the very good fortune of attending the first CakePHP workshop, in Raleigh, NC this weekend. Four of the core developers of the project where there, including the project manger and the lead …
CakePHP Workshop 2008.09.06
So here I am, in Raleigh, NC – waiting for the CakePHP Workshop to start… We survived the rain so far, waiting to see if there is any flooding or whatnot. Have met a few people here so far, all seem …
Mom has left the state
My mom (Poppy’s Grannie C) has visited us for a week and a half and it couldn’t have been timed better. With all of Poppy’s recent accomplishments, it was kind-of like meeting a whole new grandchild… …
Poppy – the dawning of the era of mobility
Poppy is over seven months old now. 223 days. She’s old. In her first week of being 6 months old, she started getting her first tooth and started crawling. She quickly realized that through crawling …
Modern Internet Identity Theft by Andrew Patrick
A recent report from Don Jackson at SecureWorks (dated March 20 2007) examines a new Trojan and provides some alarming insights on Internet Identity Theft. It is worth reviewing this case carefully to …
Anita’s just passed her boards
Anita has been going to school for her whole life. She’s 28, and she’s gone to school k-12, and then college for 9 years after that. She got her PharmD from OSU and became a Dr. of Pharmacy… but all …
A Great post on a friend’s blog
US Contractors in Iraq’s motto: “What happens here today stays here today.” The Most Privatized War in US History. Blackwater USA: The US State Department pumps $700 million worth of security …
Gmail users should go SSL
Why You Should Turn Gmail’s SSL Feature On Now Let’s talk security and why you should take advantage of Gmail’s recent SSL feature, and why you might want to be careful using other non-SSL webmail …
Poppy: babbling, teething, and growing
Poppy is growing up way too quickly. Anita cried a couple nights ago watching her sleep, and I can certainly understand… She hasn’t technically doubled in size, but she seems like she is at least …
A great article on Jan Arnow’s work in Rwanda
Rwandans look to Louisville for interfaith model The Rwandans invited the center’s executive director, Jan Arnow, to visit their country, where in May, she conducted workshops and discussions with a …
Penelope Lou is movin and shaking (anything she can grasp)
Poppy is a feirce 6 months now. She is sitting and crawling and talking a lot (though still mostly in vowels only). What’s funny is to see her grab ahold of something (anything) and shake it. “What …
Dell is now shipping computers with Ubuntu installed
Here’s a list of computers being shipped by Dell with Ubuntu… decent savings, good systems, and pro linux… makes me really happy.
We are moved in… YAY
I’ve gone for 72 hours without checking my email or getting online. Wonders will never cease. We’ve been finishing up packing and moving into our new house! As such – things are of course – crazy and …
Poppy Photos – Early July
photo-page / slideshow Poppy ate some broccoli {.image_link}{.image_link} Poppy slept with her papa and walked with her mama And played with her bear and in her crib And then Poppy and Anita and …
Poppy Accomplishment, sitting
Most changes are gradual – including this one… Poppy is sitting up pretty well now. Over the last two weeks she’s been getting closet to sitting unaided and most of this week, as long as there’s a …
Our House on Coral
We have made an offer on 183 Coral Ave. and it was accepted (finally). You may have heard about the problems we had with the last house we were interested in, so were were trying not to get our hopes …
Alan’s Finger is in a Torture Device
Alan’s fingers were bent backwards and the ligaments are contracting/scaring… this is supposed to fix it (uncomfortably).
Penelope Lou – 5 months old
Our daughter is 5 months old today. The milestones of time help me take account of the monumental changes which have happened. We have a fully fledged baby – nobody would call her an infant… she will …
Sadness, no home for the blounts
We had gotten VERY excited about a house we were going to buy. We made an offer, they countered, we accepted… all today (Sunday). We were waiting on the counter-offer-paperwork to sign and send back… …
Holy Hand Grenades, Firefox3 + Firebug1.2 = amazing!
I’ve been putting off upgrading to FF3 because I was afraid of plugins which wouldn’t work and at this point, I live by many of my FF addons. Well I feel silly now – having updated… Things seem to be …
poppy, age 4 months – 4 days in colorado
Poppy at Month four: This month has been quite productive. She has been growing by leaps and bounds, like normal. She’s now reaching for everything and putting it all in her mouth and dropping it on …
Date Night == Ethiopian & Iron Man
we had a date last night (our first in 6+ months) and ate Ethiopian food and watched “Iron Man“. Both the food and the movie were fantastic! Maybe it’s because we haven’t really had a night to …
A wonderful investigation into Ubuntu usability
I think Ubuntu is great, easy to use, standardized, and built on Debian… what could be better? Apparently – there are certainly some things which could be better. Here is a great experiment one geek …
Work sites attacked
Just an FYI – some of our old sites are not filtering out injection attacks and got hosed last weekend. The attack seems fairly sophisticated (imo) and is described in this post. …
Poppy went swimming for the first time, today
Poppy went swimming for the first time in her cute little two piece + diaper. Mom and Grannie C and Papa all helped keep her afloat. She did great, not always sure she knew what was going on, but was …
Poppy Video at Grannie C’s, early April 2008
First, Poppy laughing – Then a longer segment where Grannie C is talking about stuff that Poppy will do, and then a look around the back deck, and finally a little bit of card playing. (6:44)
Poppy Lou Video on YouTube – Giggling
Note: updated on April 17th, with a second and longer laughing clip.
General update : in Houston, Poppy status = good
Update – we are in Houston for April and May. Staying w/ family and Anita’s doing her last rotation at a hospital here. They are kicking her ass and not even saying sorry… but it’s the home stretch …
Poppy has laughed – for real – at almost 10 weeks
Penelope has laughed in her sleep and has done some sort-of laughs along the way, but last night, for the first time, she laughed. We got several giggles from her. We were tickling her and of course …
In houston for 2 months, the travel
The drive to Houston went wonderfully. We did have to stop several times, but it was just less than what we had prepared for. An 8.5 hour leg of the trip took 11 hours. We got to stop in KC and see …
Poppy is big at 2 months
Poppy is 24 inches and 12#10ozs at her 2 month appointment. That puts her in the 90th percent on bigness. He head is starting to catch up to her body ad it’s now in the 70th percentile. …
Bad time to want to buy a house
This Jan. we thought it would be a good time to start looking for houses, since the rates came down… but being slow and you know, having a child – we just recently got out and actually looked at …
Prescription drugs in drinking water
A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an …
Update from the snow
Uploaded photos of Poppy for the last several weeks (havn’t uploaded since early Feb.). You can go through the new ones (march and feb) or just look at the main stream of photos. It snowed around 7 …
The full and sorry story of my trip to Dallas on Friday, Feb. 29
I arrived at the Louisville, KY airport at 5:30am, Feb 29 and tried to check in for my flight #1755 to Dallas, TX. As it turns out, the confirmation/look up number I received with my itinerary was …
Breast milk contains stem cells
Breast milk contains stem cells – Monday, 11 February 2008 – By Catherine Madden The Perth scientist who made the world-first discovery that human breast milk contains stem cells is confident that …
Mint.com – finance overviews
My buddy Jason Smithson recently posted something about mint.com and I decided to check it out. It’s a fantastic site, very easy to use, and provides a very simple overview of the categories of my …
Poppy is getting older quick
Ok – yeah, she’s only 15 days old today… sounds like nothing… but she is already changing. Her head is getting more solid and her face seems to be solidifying (for want of a better term). Poppy is …
Poppy doing fine, new photos and videos
Poppy is doing great – an absolute joy to have around 95% of the time. She can get fussy sometimes, but it’s not bad at all – and she’s so happy most of the time. We’ve gotten better at giving baths …
And Poppy is born, and there was much Rejoiceing… (yay)
My life has shifted. If my perspective on the world were comprised of tectonic plates – it’s as if a new continent has formed, replete with earthquakes, tsunamis, and the readjustment of every other …
Baby Watch Update: 2008.01.23 @ 4pm
Baby Watch Update: 2008.01.23 @ 4pm Anita’s been having some serious contraction for a while… it could be early labor or it could be pre-labor. Even if this isn’t it, we have an appointment tomorrow …
Anita – 9 months pregnant
Anita – 9 months pregnant – photos taken by our friend Angie, in Louisville, KY.
Alan’s birthday – well wished, but no poppy
Perhaps there are just too many birthday reminders floating around, but I feel like everyone I’ve ever known has remembered my birthday this year. Not a big deal, but makes me feel good, regardless. …
Alan & Anita visit Molly, Randy, Simon, and Gena on 2008.01.13
We got to visit Molly, Randy, Simon, and Gena on 2008.01.13 – for an early Gena birthday and to show off Anita in the final stages of pregnancy (due anytime now…) Apparently, Gena is into Disney …
Simple Desktop Application for Google Analytics
I was looking for an API for Google Analytics. I didn’t find one, but I did find a slick little application for looking at the reports and stats of Google Analytics. Google Analytics Air The Google …
Webcam of alan – in testing
In theory this image will stay current – periodically updated with new versions every few minutes… if it works out, I will add it to the header or sidebar or something.
Anita’s Big – 31lbs extra – 25% of her body weight is Poppy
Anita and I went to the Dr. and got the latests baby-weight… it’s 31 pounds. That takes the pregnancy weight from ~20% to ~25% of her previous body weight. A picture’s worth 1000 words… and I’m …
2007 Year-end Update
Hello everyone. We like to do things a bit latter… you know, catch the after Christmas sales and have more time to prepare. This year that philosophy also extends to Christmas cards and in this case, …
Chirstmas in Louisville – Blount/Beatty/McClure/Weatherman
A good and busy Christmas this year. We stayed in Louisville because Anita’s too close to due-date to travel. Had 7 different family engagements in two days and enjoyed every one… though at the end of …
Penelope will be: year of the pig
<p> </p> <blockquote> <p> The Pig type is usually an honest, straightforward and patient<br /> person. They are a modest, shy character who prefers to work quietly<br …
The Nerd Handbook – where was this when asked me “why?”
It’s long, but great – go read the Nerd Handbook and understand your favorite nerds just a bit more. Here’s a quote from the top: Understand your nerd’s relation to the computer. It’s clichéd, but a …
Algebrahelp.com – where was this when I was in school?
I recently came up with a VERY simple algebraic equation… trying to figure out how many months it would take for something to become cost effective. I looked at the equation and thought I would see if …
Hubble Ultra Deep Field – a sense of proportion
As Douglas Adams put, humans really can’t deal with having a sense of proportion. We aren’t capable. But we can stretch for it… (I can touch my toes, but I can’t bend further over… but I should try …
I’m voting for Andrwe Horne, for the Senate
Not that it matters to most of you, but a friend of mine reminded me that I should indicate who I am voting for… If for nothing else I like the following line: I offer trustworthy, competent and …
Emilyn Parker, born
Anita and Alan and Cathy (Alan’s mom) visit Chris and Jenny Parker in the hospital ~2 days after the birth of Emmalynn Parker. more… This was a “scary” birth story. After 7-8 hours of early/active …
Anita’s Baby Shower
I may well get around to uploading pictures of it myself, but until then… I’m going to ride on the accolades of giants… My mom flew into town and has already posted a bunch of photos with captions: …
Visit to Bob and Doris
Heading to the company meeting in Dallas, I was able to swing into Gainsville, TX for a couple of days to visit Bob And Doris (my Uncle and Aunt on my Dad’s side). Doris is pretty much confined to a …
Company Meeting – Dec. 2007
After a very short time at the company, I’m (currently) at the company meeting in Dallas, TX. It’s been fantastic, and for me to say that about a company meeting – you had better recognize the …
Anita’s Baby Shower: codename pre-penelope (2007.12.09)
Everyone seems to be gearing up for the baby-shower. I’m sure its going to be rife with “ooohh” and “awww” and “isn’t that cute”. Typically I’m pretty easygoing about such things, but in this case, …
New(ish) Job == AO & HH == Great
I’ve been working part time for AudiologyOnline for months (after hours and on the weekends), and have finally started there full time as of Nov 15th. It’s been wonderful, not only has everyone been …
Hearthsong – cool toys and stuff for Penelope (in a couple of years)
This site [hearthsong] looks like they have a lot of really cool stuff for kids… In a couple of years I suspect we’ll get a bunch of stuff from here – a lot of learning toys and slightly less …
Photos of anita and penelope @ 7 month (t – ~3 months)
Here are some fun pictures of Anita and Penelope. She’s now 7 months pregnant and starting to get a bit un-comfortably pregnant. Parts of her fall asleep without reasonable cause. Getting up is more …
A spider attacks a moth… in my sink
Checkout these photos of a spider “taking care of” a recently caught moth. The color leaves a bit to be desired, but the subject matter afforded an opportunity to play with manual focus on the camera …
PS3 Cluster… i’ll take just one.
Clusters are inherently cool anyway… there are much cheaper ways of doing it… but how sexy is that? Take one of the clustered PS3’s out of the mix, play some games… put it back in to crunching. …
Maido is open for <$9 all you can eat Lunch Buffet
This is about the best news ever. (my stomach thinks so) We just heard about this today, and went to Maido’s (in Louisville, KY – map)…. it was absolutely fantastic! For less than $9, you get to pick …
many photos of anita and alan and others
A few people have asked me for photos of Anita… I’ve been lax in uploading and in fact I have more on a camera still… but I might as well provide easy links for the ones I’ve uploaded so far… …
Update on the Blounts – Early October 2007
So, I’ve been remiss to put anything about us on here recently. I’m thinking that I might split the blog into two seperate blogs… one on the Blounts, and one on general stuff I feel like talking …
select a candidate (2008) quiz – alan’s results:
<td> <a href="http://www.dennis4president.com/" target="_blank"><b>Dennis Kucinich</b></a><br />Score: 43 </td> <td> …
“the Iraq war is largely about oil” — Alan Greenspan
Sadly for Bush and Cheney, Greenspan decided to put prudence aside in his new book, The Age of Turbulence, and answer the most neuralgic issue of our times – why the United States invaded Iraq. …
60 yr old grandmother and Vietnam veteran, arrested for protesting the war, in Louisville
This is a fear inspiring story, all too easy to imagine. Carol Trainer could hardly process what was happening. To her, a 60-year-old grandmother and Vietnam veteran, of all people. On Memorial Day, …
911 +6 years – i’ve done nothing
Well… it’s been a day – just like any other day. I wore black… biked to work… worked… biked home and walked in the park with Anita and Nova. A beautiful day. Nothing in my day to tie this date with …
9/11, Six Years Later by David R. Henderson
This is an excellent article, discussing the specific misunderstandings and mistakes made by the US government in response to the 911 attack on the WTC and Pentagon. “Freedom itself was attacked this …
Loose Change – again – 911 and American wars
If you’re tired of propaganda; tired of conspiracy theorists telling you that your media is mostly brainwashing you into the party line of big brother… Wake up. There is a lot of conspiracy theory …
Phase III of Bush’s War
Great article on Bush’s current strength and resolve to bring war to Iran and again devastate a sovereign nation. Hearken to the astonishing rhetoric Bush used at the American Legion Convention in Las …
stupid humor and photo previews
I must be brain-dead – this is funny to me now: Also, not yet added to the photo gallery on my site, but here’s some of the photos I’ve recently been taking with the camera:
TED – Talks – Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo
Absolutely fantastic photosynth program demonstration. This really is inspiring.
Cloth Diapers for Penelope
Thanks to Anita doing research (and generally being excited in all things baby’ish) we have a more solid conviction to cloth diapers. …
Karl Rove’s Father’s Secret…
A Little Bit of History [BME Guest Column] And now I wondered if that son ever cried for the man who raised him and watched him grow up? I’d be curious as to how Karl Rove would ever explain his …
Ultrasound images, healthy development
Here are the ultrasounds from Anita’s Dr. visits. Poor quality images all, as they are on some kind of heat-transfer paper they don’t last, especially not in the heat. That said – they weren’t good …
Go PHP5
<p class="poweredbyperformancing"> Powered by <a href="http://scribefire.com/">ScribeFire</a>. </p>
I Am Baby Cakes – The Role Play Tournament
Highly entertaining, especially for all you nerds out there…
Back in Louisville, after family visitation
Well we made it back to Lou. after going to a family reunion in Arkansas and then visiting family in Texas.(photos) We’ve now rolled over 140,000 miles on our Honda CRV (1997) and it’s doing great. We …
So many things to make my life better
I’ve been using the “Control Suite” for a couple of development projects and I’m 100% pleased. The tools are modular (so you can take what you want), class based (so they don’t break your other code), …
post move to louisville
We have spent the last several days moving way too many boxes and things from columbus, oh to louisville, ky. We a glad to be donea nd back at work… well… mostly.
Anita’s growing a kidney bean with a 142 beats/min heartrate
The “lil’ nug” inside Anita is currently the size of a kidney bean. The organs have all begun developing and the heart is beating strong, at 142 beats/min. Bloodwork and whatnot seem fine. We’ve got …
Pregnant… that’s right… we’re breeders
After several years of marriage and putting off having kids till we were more financially stable… we are now pregnant. Due in Jan. or Feb. 2008. We have no data, but “think” it’s going to be a girl… …
Liam – comedian who did the “shoes” video
From “Shoes” to “Muffins” to “Text Message Breakup” Liam has been keeping thousands of video watchers entertained… ok… so “Muffin’s” was a little less entertaining than the other two, but all three …
Firebug is the best tool for AJAX web developers
Firebug is a fantastic Firefox Add-On which allows realtime viewing and editing of a page’s DOM, CSS, etc. as well as net usage reports, and even JS timing and profiling. If you work on the web, it’s …
thunderbird can do calendars
I’ve switched all my personal email to gmail, and have been using it for a couple of years now (i think). But, I have work emails which I can not just forward (or would get confusing if I did). So, of …
Alan Updates
I haven’t been posting a lot… partially to keep the blog a bit more official while looking for employment and partially because I’ve been busy. work updates: So I’ve been working at Via, from home, as …
iRack (MADtv)
This video involves a not-so-subtle analogy…. I give it a clever rating of 3.8 stars (out of 5), but I liked it enough to post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGHty_S0TU0
Petition to save Internet Radio
Petition to save Internet Radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetr I’ve been reading up on copyright laws in America and internationally and it seems blatantly obvious that the extra costs and …
recreating the RAID array
So, due to a degraded HDD in my RAID5 array, I decided to build a new array. I bought 4 320G Seagate drives… those drives have many benifits, not least of which, a 5 year warranty. I already have a …
Human Computation – Google Video
fantastic video! good geeky thinking…. Human Computation – Google Video
3DM2 (3ware raid management tool) on Ubuntu
Ran into a problem installing the 3DM2 (3ware raid management tool) on Ubuntu today. Got an “” error when trying to run the install script. After a bit of debugging, I figured out that the failing …
the personality test to remind you what’s (not) important
Five questions that will dictate your personality for the rest of your life. I don’t get it. It’s like those people who go around with those t-shirts and stickers that say “you laugh at me because I’m …
Seven Things Learned from World of Warcraft
I have never been sucked into WoW like so many of my friends (because I’m too cheap to spend $15/month) but this article is still great. (It’s so well written, non-geek should enjoy) johnaugust.com » …
Asylum Street Spankers
irreverent videos – compliments of jason s. Asylum Street Spankers – Pussy Cat Song – (YouTube) Asylum Street Spankers – Misc – (YouTube) Asylum Street Spankers – Whatever – (YouTube) Asylum Street …
TELL THE TRUTH – Mos Def – Immortal Technique
TELL THE TRUTH – Mos Def – Immortal Technique – Eminem (YouTube) A hip-hop track talking about the Bush Administration conspiracy… all content you and I are very familiar with, but a great mainstream …
oh my god, shoes
shoes – “kelly” – “oh my god, shoes” (youtube) This is one of my very favorite videos, thought I’d post it for easy watching…
A cold and frozen birthday for Anita
As you can see below – it’s cold and wet… It hasn’t stopped snowing or sleeting in about 24 hours. Anita’s birthday was great. I drove her to get coffee and then to school. I picked up lunch and …
The life and strife of a web developer/designer
The life and strife of a web developer/designer, as an animated gif.
Gainfully employeed, kind-of
I am now hired on a 2 month contract with via studio, a very well respected design/development/consulting company. This may turn into a long term position, but the 2 month contract period is a good …
looking for a job – web development / project managment
As you can see, I’m looking into my options for employment. I have a few leads, but would like to explore all of my options… at least all of the options I can get in quickly, as I’d like to have a …
over to Singapore
As one might so commonly read on IT employee blogs, “our team has been laid off”. That’s right, the whole team is being outsourced to Singapore, effective Jan 31. It will be a near-future disaster for …
Quick little update – greyhound to louisville
I’ve been very remiss at updating the blog here… I’ve had lots of good family time and some travels, some interesting stories and what-not. but no… I’ve not been updating with anything important… and …
stuff it expander download link
For anyone who had a really hard time getting just the free expander for stuffit (.sitx files) – here’s the link: StuffIt Expander: Free file expansion – Windows StuffIt Expander: Free file expansion …
210 hours in 3 weeks…. i’m afraid so.
My past 3 weeks… I’ve worked ~210 hours… that averages to 70 hours per week… but really I worked almost 100 hours in one 7 day period. One day, i worked from 6am – 2am, and one day I worked from 9am – …
AutoHotKey – like robotype on steroids
AutoHotkey – Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText: AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can: Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes …
Police brutality – an email from Jason E. (spoon)
A great but disturbing email sent by my friend Jason E. (spoon): November 14th, 2006: A student is tasered five times while in police custody while in the library at UCLA. The cops tase him, not …
jamglue – tightness!
Jamglue – Glue it to the man: This is a fantastic tool – to multi-track audio from a collaboartive environment with slick controls and a great/simple user interface. …
ultimate in singapore as reported in the wall street journal
The Ultimate Sport – WSJ.com: Besides being relatively inexpensive to play, part of Ultimate’s appeal lies in the fact that stature isn’t as critical as speed and dexterity: catching, throwing, …
vote – and know who you are votting for
don’tvote.com – OH go vote – you voting can’t hurt anything, not voting might.
Marea & DJ are wed, HH3 rocked
Marea and DJ’s wedding on Saturday Oct. 28th was wonderful. The wedding proper was at ~1pm at her father’s house in the Tyler Park area. It was supposed to be a very small event, which still ended up …
bank interest calculation in question… looking for your 2 cents
I need some help from some people who understand finances better than I do, am I getting ripped off of a cent a month interest by my bank? (earth shattering importance, of course) Imagine the …
Praise to Alan
I would like to take a moment and give praise to Alan. For those who know him, know that he is awesomely quicky, white and nerdy. It gets better when you live with him! I have come home after a bad …
Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction Videoclip
Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction Videoclip. Warning: flesh and power tools do not always go together this well.
taskbar suffler
home of the nerd cave | taskbar shuffle and more: Once you download, install, and run Taskbar Shuffle, left-click and drag the programs/buttons on your Windows taskbar to rearrange them. It’s that …
Explorer Destroyer
Explorer Destroyer – Switch to Firefox, Make money from Adsense Referral: Get this tool for switching people from IE to Firefox. For each person you switch, Google gives you $1, Microsoft loses …
Anita’s new wedding ring (yes, from alan)
[ Anita’s new wedding ring (the 3rd)]1 This is the 3rd wedding rind on Anita’s finger… all 3 from Alan, and all within the first 5-6 years of marriage. Luckily all three of them together are less than …
Adam Menzies: Trampoline Demo
YouTube – Adam Menzies: Trampoline Demo: A totally amazing athlete – the movie is fair quality and 6 minutes with good variety. Anyone who enjoys jumping or climbing will be impressed.
a few fun science videos
Fun, sciencey videos/links: Water Balloon popping in slow motion Water Balloon, filling with dry ice, and collapsing in Liquid nitrogren Representation and explanation of 10 dimensional space (as …
Iddybud: The Buck Stops with Bush
Iddybud: The Buck Stops with Bush: What we have done in Iraq – the way we went about this venture – is something I’m sure that President Bush now regrets, even though he’d never admit it. We have a …
Inside Toyota’s hybrid factory | CNET
Inside Toyota’s hybrid factory | CNET News.com: TOYOTA CITY, Japan–While you’re touring the assembly area in Toyota’s Tsutsumi auto plant, your mind keeps telling you that you’ve been here before. …
White and Nerdy- Weird Al
YouTube – White and Nerdy- Weird Al This video/song is fantastic… it hits pretty close to home for me and several of my friends, though. Personally it’s hitting at least 40% acurate for me: I’m fluent …
dan bern made me a man
saw dan bern last night… he’s fantastic – still – always. his second song was “I do what I have to do to make me feel like a man…” which is a great song. during it, watching him, I realized that I …
Bush is a Post Turtle
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year-old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually, the topic got …
My company has a new CEO
Here is a link to an article which paints a less than favorable picture of her. Watch the stock with interest… but you might not want to invest just yet. (note one of the comments that she was …
Arrr, it be talk like a pirate day again.
Talk Like A Pirate Day – September 19: Aye, we be needin’ ya to talk like pirate now or ye’ be considered a spinless land-lubber. If ye’ be needin’ some a guidance-like, watch “Pirates of the …
Jenifer (in LA) posted some new photos recently
Martha’s Vineyard- August 2006: [<img src="https://zeroasterisk.com/photos/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=30381&g2_serialNumber=2" class="giThumbnail" …
MoveOn petition to not let bush of the hook
MoveOn.org Political Action: The Senate must not pardon President Bush for breaking the law: “The Senate must not pardon President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping innocent …
Bill which does not reinterprets the Geneva Conventions
CNN.com – GOP split as Senate panel bucks Bush on terror tribunals – Sep 15, 2006: The bill was backed by Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John …
sarah and molly – brown bagging it
Check out this wonderful (heh) picture of molly and Sarah going to Sarah’s wedding…
Mates of State & Dresdon Dolls – some videos were found….
I got an email to view a video on mtvu.com, but thier crappy player wouldn’t work on windows XP pro 64… so, I went looking for other videos by them: For the Actor – Mates of State – Google Video Mates …
MIT Hack – fire truck
IHTFP Hack Gallery:Fire Truck on the Great Dome: A buddy of mine who went to MIT sent me this… He said the students have to dodge building security to get to the top of the dome… and the got the fire …
on the phones, for democracy
I am going to volunteer for 7pm Friday… anyone else interested in putting their time where their mouth is… or their mouth on the phone, where their politics are? ———- Forwarded message ———- From: …
CUDA Fall League 2006 starts
CUDA Fall League 2006 started today… it was a lot of fun! Less serious than summer league, but a little more serious than a regular pickup game… we played light on numbers as a lot of players were out …
Labor Day Weekend Plans
Going to Lexington to visit Molly, Randy, Simon, and Gena… then going to Louisville. Got a friends dinner going on Sunday night, and family stuff Monday and Tuesday, then back to Colubmus. Leaving …
News: Engineered cells beat cancer in human test
Engineered cells beat cancer in human test | Chicago Tribune: In a small study of patients with terminal skin cancer, Maryland scientists have demonstrated for the first time that genetically …
Letter to the editor: Republicans need to step out from behind their false mask of security
Five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has failed to keep us safe. In fact, we are less safe. The war in Iraq has diverted attention from protecting America from terrorism. In fact, this past …
freedom toaster – a great idea
Again, I’m amazed at the generosity of human beings. Perhaps silly, perhaps underused (no idea), and obviously narrow in scope… none the less, I’m still impressed that people have volunteered to make …
Nuclear weapons, still.
I’m not nearly as anti-nuclear as most of my socially conceious friends… at least as it relates to nuclear power and research. That said, I’m seriously worried about the “bigger stick” theory as it …
vacation in houston
Anita, our step sister Maddie (14), and I went to Houston, from July 20 through August 1st. We drove. [map] First, we drove to and camped at the Hot Springs National Park, during the hottest part of a …
give me storage or give me… well… more storage
Looking at the following article: Indian-born scientist developing coated DVD’s that can make hard disks obsolete ..: I find my self thinking that hard drives wouldn’t be obsolete, but OS …
so, uh… yeah… i admire Matthias Wandel
I don’t often randomly surf for people… but this guy [Matthias Wandel] wrote some software I was using (for the first time, about 5-6 years ago) [jhead] and I randomly browsed over to his personal …
the one that got away
I had written a decent post about freedom of speech and that it is mostly a facade, but even that facade is wonderful… but the post got lost in the ether (more accuratly, my computer rebooted for …
2004 Election Stolen? (yep)
Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted — enough to have put John Kerry in the White House. BY ROBERT F. …
Meditation relieves stress… anyone surprised?
According to the article: Transcendental meditation good for stress: study it goes a bit further than just getting relaxed… Practicing transcendental medicine not only mellows the mind but may also …
Moonlight Kayaking, then family
Friday, Anita and I went to Bardstown, Ky to go “Moonlight Kyaking” with Theresa and some of her Rugby Teammates/friends [link]. Before we got there we swung by the Jim Beam plant (thinking it was …
alan is 10,000 days old today
I have really slacked on the the posting recently… I’ve had a good amount to talk about, but haven’t had the motivation to write anything. (at least none that coincides with available time) I’ve …
Post Houston visit
I have put off writing something in response to my visit to Houston, Tx. Partially due to laziness, and perhaps partially to allow more time for settling of experience… mostly laziness, I suspect. I …
on: 911 Loose Change 2nd Edition with extra footage
Text of an email I spammed to just about everyone I have an address for: ===INTRO============== I’m sorry to have sent what could be considered propaganda to you. I believe it’s well put together and …
pandora > radio (except for some NPR)
If you didn’t already know… Pandora.com. Yes, that’s right. What? You want to know what I’m talking about? Simply, it’s a brilliant option for listen to music. You go to that site, create an ID (only …
What I’m reading today (political) + What I did today
What I’m reading today (political): Sometimes I do sit down and do an hour or 2 of reading and browsing. I have collected the stories that I would recommend to anyone else interested in our messed up …
Sci-Fi Film Fest, April 22
Sci-Fi Film Fest in Columbus from noon Saturday, April 22 until noon Sunday, April 23 @ the Drexel. Yup – I’m going… you should come… you should bring your friends… geeks – unite, support the geeks …
aaronland.info/nytimes
Interesting link : http://aaronland.info/nytimes/ Read the blurb at the top and then click on the first link [http://aaronland.info/nytimes/related/]. The top image is a map where the top NY Times …
flickr is really… really cool…
I have setup a Flickr account/profile and played with it some… it’s totally awesome. I’ve heard of it for years, but haven’t needed anything like it, since I have gallery installed on a server on …
two worth-reading polictical links
A good laugh (followed by a frustrated sigh) : Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | God: I’ve lost faith in Blair And a much more sober / disconcerting / conspiracy-theory’ish (but no less …
lord of war – response
I just got done watching the movie: Lord of War (2005) I think it was a good film, in the vane of “blow” and “traffic” but with a different angle and a semi-moral overtone. The best part, IMO, is the …
brutal christ[ians]
I just got done reading : The Brutal Christ of the Armageddonites – by Jon Basil Utley It’s a great overview of / perspective on the Christian “pro-end-of-the-world” movement which has begun (in this …
pay to email – what a dumb idea
so – there’s some buzz going on (yes, I’m a few days behind) about AOL and Yahoo letting companies pay (them) to send spam… but disallowing spam otherwise… what? If you could dis-allow it, do so. If …
whew… that was a relief
The Would You Have Been a Nazi Test Achtung! You are 23% brainwashworthy, 18% antitolerant, and 28% blindly patriotic Congratulations! You are not susceptible to brainwashing, your values and cares …
alan + mohawk = all is right in the world
Yes, once again, Alan is in posession of a mohawk… life is good – life is good. A mohawk is a wonderful thing for several reasons. Some of them are: I have hair on the top of my head still, might as …
a new bed (life is good)
We have had our bed now for over an week and it is fantastic. I actually found myself sleeping propped up on my elbows one morning – and it was comfortable. We got a Sealy : Reflexion : Venice Beach – …
People are freaking out on GDS
I’m seeing a lot of articles (and people at work are linking me to even more) warning people about the new Google Desktop Search; like: Google Copies Your Hard Drive – Government Smiles in …
Louisvile Skyline – a new building on the horizon?
If anyone in the ‘ville hasn’t heard about the New Skyscraper for Louisville – check it out… It looks really cool (in my opinion) and would be a great thing to claim for the city… not to mention, it’d …
a good Bush commercial
If anyone is interested, go to https://political.moveon.org/donate/breakingthelaw.html to view the commercial spot (and the facts behind it) MoveOn is trying to get on the air. I’ve long said Bush is …
Seduction Style: Au Natural
*Seduction Style Quiz results: Au Natural* You rank up there with your seduction skills, though you might not know it. That’s because you’re a natural at seduction. You don’t realize your power! The …
Article: Revelations about the Twin Towers in the 9/11 Oral Histories
I was recently sent a link to the article Explosive Testimony: Revelations about the Twin Towers in the 9/11 Oral Histories, on the site 911truth.org. I think the article, though kind of long, …
waiting for the bus
I’m in Louisville right now… there are a lot of people in the office for a flurry of meetings and it seemed appropriate for me to come as well. Our biggest meeting started at noon today, and ends at …
Petition: The President Broke the Law
<MoveOn.org> petition: The President Broke the Law President Bush admitted to personally authorizing thousands of allegedly illegal wiretaps, and he doesn’t plan to stop. Circumventing the …
birthday #27
It my (Alan’s) 27th birthday today. Thanks to all who have sent cards, emails, IMs, phone calls, etc to wish me a happy one. I’m rather surprised so many people have remembered. Also, special thanks …
Adware seek & find
I read the following blog post linked from slashdot. It is part of the blog for SiteAdvisor… a tool for testing for adware / spyware. Those of you who still run into problems with adware and spyware, …
Political links and quotes for today
Here is a great interview with Noam Chomsky entitled There Is No War On Terror. Some of my favorite quotes from it, follow: This is even sometimes discussed. You can find it in the strategic analysis …
Impeach Bush… you hear about this yet?
I am excited to hear about the possible investigation for the impeachment of Bush (I’ve been calling for it for a while). Too bad it’s not something that I am hearing much about – you all? No? You’d …
DeLay taken down & other news
I just got done reading the article: [ Colleagues force DeLay to relinquish grip on leadership of House]1 on The Guardian. I have already heard about this on blackwednesday.org, but it’s a story that …
real audio stream downloading
I have looked for this information before, but the planets have aligned and I was able to find what I was looking for. Here are complete instructions for how to download Real Audio streams and convert …
my birthday present from you…
It will be my 27th birthday in on Jan 17th. That is not exciting, but I’m going to try to use it as a ploy to get you (yes – you, the person reading this right now) to give me a present. It wont take …
Alito is not neato
Over 750,000 people have signed on to a letter urging the Senate to reject Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court. If you sign on, we’re that much closer to making it a full one million: Sign …
2005 Holiday trip – chapter 3 – Louisville
Before we went to Houston, Anita and I spent some time in Louisville. We were able to see some friends and a good amount of family. We missed out on the big family events, as we were in Houston then… …
attempt at positive spin on mountaintop removal
Phil sent me a link to the article [Appalachian town mining for land] which is talking about the removal of mountains by a coal mining company as a positive thing… to some it may well be – but as coal …
2005 Holiday trip – chapter 2 – Houston
I spent many full and well populated days in Houston. Anita and I spent nights at various family houses, ate some of the best food we had eaten all year, and most importantly – got to spend good time …
2005 Holiday trip – chapter 1 – to Houston
So, when flying to Houston, early on Monday the 19th of December I ran into a slight problem. I went through security without issue, and my laptop bag had to go through… and I overheard security …
gearing up to split
We are getting our stuff together to leave columbus for a while. We have house-sitters / cat-sitters for the majority of the time we are gone… and we are bringing Nova with us, to Louisville. We are …
Busy as (winter in) hell
The past week (starting at the end of last week actually) Anita and I have been insufferably busy. I’ve been working till midnight or later Sat-Wed… anita has, if anything, been working more… studying …
scam notice
I got a phone call today, supposedly from DomainRegistry.com. Unfortunately, though suspicious, I did provide my street address… I resisted, but he read it off to me, and I confirmed it… what are you …
death penalty and prisons… we call ourselves civilized?
1000th “Death Penalty” murder since reinstating in 1976 Doesn’t it seem strange to be killing people for killing people? I am aware that there are people that are dangerous enough to never let back …
blog comment spam is the devil
Anyone else getting a flood of blog comment spam recently? WordPress is awesome enough to catch all of it as probably spam and put it into a moderation queue for me, but I still had 80+ comments to …
Thanksgiving
Here is my requisite turkeyday post. Anita had to work her last day today, so we are in Columbus still. She plans on not working until this summer. I’ve been encouraging her to do this… though her ~10 …
New template for za
So – the new template is up on zeroasterisk. Not only does it look different right now – this template is setup to be controlled by CSS, so I’ll be providing options on how to view the site. Until I …
M$ Clusters – what a bad idea
So now M$ is releaseing a version meant to cluster computers, you know, like a beowulf cluster. This is one of the worst Ideas I could think of. Why would you use a flaky, high-overhead, and often to …
frappr – lets see who actually does this
There is a beta of a site that allows anyone to create a group, and people can add themselves / photos to it, and where they are at… it uses google maps API to plot the photos on a map… really neat …
secrets are stupid, and so is the Kansas board of Education
After reading the article: CIA prisons leak ‘to be probed’, I was overcome one specific emotion: unease (fear)… The fact that there are secret prisons and nobody knows about them scares the hell out …
Columbus War Protest March on Sat Nov 5th
Anyone wanna come march to protest the war in iraq? I’ll be there, and so will phil… Memorial to be Held in Support of Troop Withdrawal from Iraq Columbus OH Saturday, November 5 The OSU student peace …
PHP (good) news
My boss just sent me a link to the following article: PHP catching on at enterprises, vying with Java Not only is it cool my boss sent it to me, but the content of the article is great news for anyone …
Jenifire went to Peru (who knew?)
So, in August, apparentally, Jeno went to Peru… It looks like she toured the countryside and hiked up mountains… went to the amazon rainforest, boated across pink-dolphin infested waters, and got …
brave new passports
A quick note about techno-passports which are to be common soon (required I believe)… they put an antenna in the passport, to transmit data, and a material on the cover to stop the antenna from …
Hell House II
Pre-Halloween Party : Hell House II Well, as with pretty much all DJ Foursquare (and hushabye house) parties, this was a great event. Chill people, great crowd, good venue (effective at least), great …
recent spoon photos
Spoon has posted some new (depending on when you last looked) photos… here are some of my favorites: dj spoon, weed airport, an attractive salad, and 40 oz of art. Now playing: [Tom Waits][5] – …
ultimate in the cold rain
I played ultimate frisbee today, one of the last evening games of the year. It’s been getting dark earlier every week and now we have to stop playing around 7:15… when you start at 6:00 of after, …
google says : failure = bush, incompetent = bush…
One more quick note: I was doing the Google “feeling lucky” thing, where you enter a word like “failure” and it gives your it’s best result… Well, for the word “failure” it isn’t random, it’s… well… …
for a good time… read banterist.com
Call me a content theif, but I just can’t think of anything better to post here than some recent posts from Brian Sack’s blog www.banterist.com. Shopping for God Brian’s old leather pants auction …
The World Can’t Wait – lets do something
The World Can’t Wait – a site promoting active options for ridding ourselves of the current blight named G. W. Bush.
mutant mice… yeah – really
One of the strangest things I’ve run across… ORNL Mutant Mouse Database. It is litterally a place to find out about and purchase mutant mice… seriously.
Sculpture appeals
I just heard from my good friend (and former employer) Dave Caudill and got up to speed on his recent newsletters. I’m glad to see he’s still making great art and getting it out in the world… It’s …
Rediculously interesting reading at wikipedia (Nuclear Powerd, WMD, & current book)
Chernobyl Accident – Nuclear Reactor Explosion, 1986 April 26 Mohamed ElBaradei – IAEA Directory General, replacing Hans Blix Weapons of Mass Distraction – also see the top 10 from Connie Rice on The …
Jung tested and approved
I just took a Typology Test and ended up as ENFJ which broke down as the following: [17%] Extroverted [25%] Intuitive [12%] Feeling [67%] Judging You can read more about the ENFJ type by looking at …
ApolloAlliance — renewable energy is good
I recently found out about what appears to be a great group called ApolloAlliance, which is setup in many states including Ohio and Kentucky. There’s a lot of good information there, including how to …
MediaWiki Semantic Goodness
I feel like a spectator admiring athletes reading things like the this blog post [Semantic Wikipedia - At last one of dreams is at the verge of coming true.], but an excited spectator, none the less. …
Web News of the day
Sporting Events cause a drop in ER visits Ok, this is kindof rediculous… Apparently, Americans put off their emergency room visits, or just don’t have as many problems, during major sporting events. I …
za1 theme in development
I’ve been working on a comprehensive theme, currently called za1 (very exciting name, eh?). I will be mapping the components of my site into that theme (instead of hacking the themes of the components …
Hurricane Rita wasn’t too bad on Houston it seems
I very briefly talked to mom today and she said her mom (Penny) went back to her home today and things seem normal enough. She was driving so I didn’t get a full report, but judging by tone-of-voice, …
Rita Update & Anit-War Protest Story
Rita Update: Rita, as a Category 3 hurricane (120 mph) made landfall at 2:30 a.m. CDT today in extreme southwest Louisiana between Sabine Pass and Johnson’s Bayou, La. Port Arthur, Texas, clocked …
Rita – hurricane in Houston
An Email to/from Cathy (my mom) who lives in Houston, in response to the coming hurricane everyone is freaking out about (because of the recent Katrina problems in New Orleans). From Alan dear houston …
Creationists on the move, apparently
Challenged by Creationists, Museums Answer Back (sorry, the link requires login) Apparently, after a few rather agressive (not phiscally) confrontations with creationists, in science museums – docents …
Clinton speaks out against Bush
Clinton launches withering attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had …
Legal rights? What legal rights?
September 9th, it was ruled that Jose Padilla was still not to be given fair trial, in fact not to be charged with a crime nor to be given legal council. It’s the first time this has ever happened in …
Post Labor Day & and an interesting story
Saturday Anita had to work, but Phil, Sarah, Jess, and Phil’s friend Tom came over and played Mao [1]2. It’s a great game – and surprisingly effective at bringing about a represive dictatorial feel in …
katrina disaster = really sad | space elevator = good
Katrina It’s a huge disaster. Everyone is probably aware of that. To put it in perspective, it’s [Katrina It’s a huge disaster. Everyone is probably aware of that. To put it in perspective, it’s]2 …
New photos up – kittens and more
Many new photos of our kittens are now avaialble, including a really cute one of Jess and Io (on the right). Below are some of my favorites: Thebe’s bath Thebe in a cup Thebe and Io in bowls There are …
the web allows much time to be wasted, well
TimeWaster 6000 – The Artsechro Mixer (funded by Red Bull, built by terralever and in part by Chris “ubergeek.tv” Hill) Create your own “Concerto for Turntable” – Fuse classical and turntable music …
CTF was fun and Google is still the hotness
So – Capture the Flag was a lot of fun. We played at the Park of Roses on August 21 2005 (after sundown). We had 9 people show and had a great time, though we were out classed severely by some “in …
Vat Grown Stem Cells
Recent News: Skin Cells Converted to Stem Cells which means we have “starter cells” for transplants and the like and don’t have to worry about the moral issues raised from using the tissues of aborted …
IE is horrible, use firefox
IE is horrible, use firefox or Mozilla… or just go to Linux and use the big K. Yet again… nasty trojans auto-install through IE Security Shortcommings get firefox
Kitten Update
I took the kittens to the vet yesterday. It turns out they’re only 6 weeks old and they are both males. We have also decided on names for them. The black one is henceforth Thebe, and the white and …
Kitten Update
I took the kittens to the vet yesterday. It turns out they’re only 6 weeks old and they are both males. We have also decided on names for them. The black one is henceforth Thebe, and the white and …
kittens arrive
We have kittens. That’s right, it’s cute-fest-2005 in our apartment right now. We got a pair of 8 6 week old kittens on Sunday from Anita’s co-worker who got them dumped on her by her mom. They are a …
April is ok after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake
From an email from April: _However, I did want to let everyone know that I am safe and perfectly whole after this morning’s earthquake. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, a 7.2 …
Nothing too intersting
I don’t have anything interesting going on right now, so here’s some of the stuff going on in the world today (that I was interested in): techie stuff Google snubs tech news outlet CNET – Google CEO …
japan backlog finished / Ryka’s bithday
Well, I’m finally done with updating the backlogged Japan blog entries. It was something I kept putting off, but I’m real glad I did it – the posts are kinda long, but it’s as much for my memory of …
there’s no place like…
Anita and I were planning on staying up all Monday night and going to the Tokyo Fish Market at 5 am on Tuesday, but around 3am we crashed. Anita got up at 4:30 and fully intended to get me up, but she …
the train is slowing down
After the late night before, we all slept in… Anita and I slept in so much we missed our hotel’s breakfast. We found a snack and took the subway to the Tokyo Aquarium. It was totally disappointing. …
Party in Tokyo (Day 1)
Another morning of repacking, a walk to the station, and a train ride to Tokyo (~3 hours)… most people napped (I read). We got out at Tokyo and took a subway to the hotel, dropped off our packs, and …
Kyoto day 2
On our second full day in Kyoto we ate the last of the Fruit and some of the granola bars for breakfast; then we hopped on the #100 bus for the east side of Kyoto to see Ginkakuji-michi (the Silver …
Kyoto day 1
We got an early start, showered, dressed, and set out for the train station to buy bus passes before 8:00 am. 2,000 Yen for a 2 day all bus all subway pass is a good deal… also because it means you …
Fukushima to Kyoto (relaxing day)
We finished packing for a couple of hours and then took way too much stuff down to the Koori-Machi train station. We caught the 15 minute train to Fukushima and stuffed our packs into lockers at the …
Koori-Machi, layers of folded beauty
Wednesday, we went to the elementary school April visits a few times a week. We did a brief tour of the classes and had an audience with the principal and vice-principal. The school seemed wonderful, …
Kill them with kindness
Tuesday 19 July 2005, we dressed in our nice clothes, carried our own house slippers so we didn’t have to use visitor slippers, and walked to Jo-Ho Chugakko Junior High School, known as Jo-Chu. …
Many Mountains, One Castle
This morning we ate fruit, cereal, and granola before setting out for Mount Azuma. We took the Aizu Bandi Skyline (highway) for some beautiful but quite frightening driving in the mountains. A couple …
Nikko is Nippon
Saturday we took a local train to Fukushima and ate lunch at our first Japanese restaurant… it was spectacular! It was a friend of a friend’s dad’s restaurant and we ended up being there 20 minutes …
Haved arrived in Japan
24 hours, is a long time to travel. We flew to Chicago from Louisville, but got delayed on the runway in Louisville; so we had to run in Chicago to make it to our connecting flight to Tokyo… we made …
Anita has hair / I have pictures
Anita’s hair is finally long enough to put into psuedo-pig-tails! glory glory… [Anita’s hair is finally long enough to put into psuedo-pig-tails! glory glory… ]1 Also, while you are looking at that …
japan trip – T minus 34 hours
All of the “final” preperations for the trip to Japan are (almost) complete. We are packed and will be going to Louisville on Wednesday night… then flying to japan Thursday morning – flying until …
2005 07 12
First Post on WordPress
I have implemented a blogging system on my site (utilizing WordPress) and modified the display of my wiki to play well with the blog… The basics of the change are making the content fixed width, and …
2017 05 39 Why Wait To Adopt Hugo
+++ author = “alan” tags = [“nerd”, “wordpress”, “hugo”, “static site”, “go”] date = “2017-05-29T23:39:00-04:00” …
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