The Scottosphere

Return of the Widelux.

2006-05-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

Everyone's favorite Widelux was in the Haus this weekend! I'll be posting a few pictures from Steer Roast pit lighting soon. Another shot from this set appears (in color, even) at the bottom of page 9 of today's Tech, accompanied by an embarassingly bad caption.

Labs.

2006-05-08T11:43:00.000-05:00

After my longtime E-6 lab, Boston Photo Imaging, shut down its film processing operations last summer, I switched over to the second best shop I knew of: Zona Photographic Labs in Somerville. And today, as I prepared to head over there to drop off some film, I discovered that they are going out of business.

I am sad about this. Where am I going to get my color film processed now?

Zona was also the last fine-art Ilfochrome printer in the Boston area.

Now with free nights and weekends!

2006-05-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

It's gotta be the shoes.

2006-05-07T21:37:00.000-05:00

I was sitting alone in a booth at Spike's today, scarfing down dinner and skimming the Phoenix when a hip-looking Asian man walked over to my table.

"Excuse me. I don't mean to bother you... but I really like your shoes!" he began.

"Oh. Um, thanks!" I replied, somewhat concerned about where this conversation could be leading.

"I think they're the best New Balance shoe ever made," he added.

"Well, I bought them at the factory outlet in Brighton, but this style has been discontinued, so you're out of luck. I should have bought two pairs, though, because they are very nice."

"Oh, I know. I have a pair myself. Actually, the reason I noticed is because I'm a shoe designer at New Balance. I think we should bring them back, so I'm glad to see you're wearing them. Keep wearing those shoes, and keep fighting the good fight!"

Swimming.

2006-05-07T18:21:00.000-05:00

A nice Boston Globe article on college swim tests notes that MIT is one of only 9 or so universities left in the United States with the requirement, down from 42% of all colleges in 1977.

The reasons cited for eliminating it are pretty weak.

Not all memories befit a memorial.

2006-05-05T13:04:00.000-05:00

It was announced today that the underground memorial for New York City's fallen World Trade Center could cost upwards of $1 billion. That cost is roughly comparable to the original construction price of the twin towers.

One of my favorite Ben Katchor cartoons, published in Metropolis a few years back, cleverly explored the uncomfortable possibility that Americans have gotten a little carried away with their memorials. In it, a man walks down a city street of the future. An elaborate plaque or marker lies at nearly every corner, denoting the passing of people or places that no longer bear any great significance.

I'm not suggesting that the terrorist attacks of September 2001 do not merit a memorial. But this project is plagued with a ridiculously overblown sense of scale. It clings to the misguided and macabre notion that a proper memorial must lie within the footprints of the original towers. Its design relies not on simplicity, but on tremendously complicated feats of engineering. Most disturbingly, it is a memorial meant not to remember the lives of those who died, but to venerate the lost buildings and encourage visitors to wallow forever in the memories of their destruction.

Drilling deep.

2006-05-02T11:18:00.000-05:00

A recent Senate proposal to write every American a $100 check to offset high gasoline prices also includes another rider to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. A recent Reuters article quickly sheds some light on the thought process behind this legislation:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert told reporters after a meeting with ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson that any consumer rebates would have to be offset by drilling in Alaska.

It's nice to see that our lawmakers are seeking out such authoritative, unbiased sources of information to aid in their decision-making.

Approval.

2006-05-01T18:31:00.000-05:00

Food for thought. I was surprised to see that three men make both lists.

The Highest Presidential Approval Ratings Ever Recorded (1938-present):

90% - George W. Bush (September 21-22, 2001)
89% - George H.W. Bush (March 1991)
87% - Harry Truman (April 1945)
84% - F.D.R. (January 1942)
83% - John F. Kennedy (April 1961?)
The Lowest Presidential Approval Ratings Ever Recorded (1938-present):

22% - Harry Truman (February 1952)
24% - Richard Nixon (July-August 1974)
28% - Jimmy Carter (June 1979)
29% - George H.W. Bush (July 1992)
34% - George W. Bush (April 2006)

Source: Gallup poll data.

An observation.

2006-05-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

This date exists only on my wristwatch.

A spring well-sprung.

2006-04-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

My flight this morning took an unusual approach into Logan, first flying directly over the airport, past the inner harbor, and deep into the southern 'burbs (Dedham?) before turning 180 degrees and landing on 04R. The clear, sunny sky and the strange route provided two excellent views of my favorite city.

The temperature may have only reached 55, but from what I saw of Boston today, the collective attitude might have been "Spring is here, dammit, and we're going to enjoy it."

Running along the Esplanade just a month or two ago, I would encounter perhaps a dozen other people (including the homeless). But today there were hundreds. Not just runners and cyclists, either, but also walkers, rollerbladers, picnickers and fishers. There were collegiate frisbee games, kids playing catch, a pet dog swimming in the river, sailboats pulled up alongside the piers, couples cuddled annoyingly on blankets, students reading books, artists making sketches, writers making notes, and sun-bathers trying not to look cold.

Spring is never much of a surprise, but it's always exciting anyway.

Spackle.

2006-04-22T20:25:00.000-05:00

This film by some Emerson College students is hilarious. (From the Boston Campus Moviefest.)

Ahead of my Times.

2006-04-22T15:24:00.000-05:00

I wrote about this penny business on March 31. Looks like the government is still trying to make cents of it.

Nahant pictures.

2006-04-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

I put a few more snapshots from the Nahant trip online. I must have a lot of free time.

Underestimation of the week.

2006-04-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

"Hey look -- the surges through these rocks come almost as high as my feet!"

Another reason to love Boston.

2006-04-17T16:48:00.000-05:00

When nearly all the great foot races of the world have all sold their identities to corporate sponsorship -- the "Flora London Marathon," the "Real Berlin Marathon," the "LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon," and the "ING New York Marathon" -- the Boston Marathon is still just the Boston Marathon.

Kind of refreshing, isn't it?

My isles.

2006-04-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

Saturday: to Wellesley via Beacon Street, 135, Pond Road (Lake Waban), and 16: 27.6 mi

Sunday: to Nahant via EC, 99, 60, and Revere Beach: 38.7 m

Penang II.

2006-04-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

After a mere 6 week delay, I'm finally ready to present... pictures from Penang, Malaysia (March 2006 edition). Now with an experimental new "running commentary" feature. It's like having me watch over your shoulder while you browse, only more concise.

Why'd lucks?

2006-04-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

It always thrills me to be acknowledged by someone who is better than I am. Check out this new weblog by Matt Needham.

License plates spotted for the first time in Boston.

2006-04-11T08:21:00.000-05:00

District of Columbia ("Taxation Without Representation")
Maine House of Representatives (representation!)
Alaska

Cities.

2006-04-04T17:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was walking with some co-workers at lunch. The new guy, still annoyed after a series of weekend wrong turns threw him off course for hours, wanted everyone to know that Boston is much harder to navigate than, say, Seattle or New York City. The grid layout, he insisted, is ingenious. The others generally agreed that a consistent system for navigation -- streets ordered in alphabetic and numeric sequences and placed at regular intervals -- represents the triumph of urban planning over the undesirable chaos of nature.

As one who is usually delighted by consistency, I was at a loss to explain why I was so distraught by their easy position. Today, I found the answer in a photographer's note in a magazine:

"Taking this... atop the tallest building in Santiago surrounded by smog and sprawl, I then understood that I define a city as a place that has developed beyond the control of those who built it." (David Allee, Metropolis, April 2006, p. 200)

Beer review: Narragansett.

2006-04-03T13:02:00.000-05:00

"Hi, neighbor, have a 'Gansett!"

After a long hiatus that dates back to when this author's primary means of locomotion was crawling, Narragansett Beer is back. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so on a recent trip to the Sunset Grill, I thought I'd give it a try.

"It's famous!" offered the waiter. "It says so right on the can."

Indeed it does. Narragansett is refreshingly drinkable, slightly sweet, perfectly carbonated, and completely lacking in aluminum aftertaste. Its brewers clearly took many cues from such other award-winning lagers as Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Narragansett comes in bottles or perfectly retro-styled 16-oz. cans that would look right at home in the cooler by the barbeque, in the cupholder of your truck, or smashed against your forehead. Start drinking it before the hipsters do!

Inconsequential afternoon thoughts.

2006-03-31T14:00:00.000-05:00

After realizing a moment too late that I had handed the cashier a wheat penny, I checked my pocket for more ancient history. To my surprise, I found a 1967 cent. That's pretty old I think.

I throw away pennies sometimes. Usually when I'm cleaning. Not many people realize it, but in 1982, the government made pennies utterly worthless for most non-monetary purposes: the mint changed the alloy from 95% copper to 0.8% copper. (That is random fact #1.)

Back at the office, I was chatting with our transformer vendor on the phone when he launched into another tirade about the rising commodity prices of copper and what he's going to have to do to my finished-goods prices if the market doesn't come to its senses. I checked this out online. Yesterday's COMEX trading price for copper is an astonishing $2.5035/lb. (Random fact #2.)

A pre-1982 penny weighs 3.1 grams. (Yes, I looked it up. Random fact #3.)

Therefore, I calculate that my 1967 penny is worth 1.63 cents... as scrap metal. Forget about rolling pennies -- I'm buying a furnace!

In passing...

2006-03-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

Regarding k_e ≅ 8.988×10⁹:

"In passing you might note that this means that two charges, of one coulomb each, placed one metre apart exert a force upon each other that exceeds the weight of two fully laden oil super-tankers. Do not try this at home."

-- Source: "Unit Systems in Electromagnetism"

my-computer

2006-03-19T21:33:00.000-05:00

my-computer was down for 12 hours today because the power supply died overnight. I had hoped it was just the fan interlocks -- AlphaStations won't power up if they sense fan trouble -- but it turned out to be an irreparable component failure.

Now of course you can't just go down to the corner store and buy a replacement AlphaStation power supply. (It's a proprietary design.) But what you can do is bike to Brighton, buy a normal ATX power supply, consult the motherboard
technical documentation, consult the ATX specification, and spend hours soldering a custom wiring harness to plug them together. So I did.

Incredibly, it worked.

It's pretty impressive that this is only the first hardware failure in nearly 10 years of its existence. Yes, I checked -- my-computer was made in 1996! However, having pledged long ago that I would only replace it when it completely quits working, I can't help but wonder: could this be the beginning of the end for my trusty AlphaStation?

Let's pretend that I'm not lazy.

2006-03-15T23:03:00.000-05:00

I have finished developing all the film from my most recent trip to Penang. Scanning is possibly the most boring and least rewarding task ever, so it might be a while before I go through and extract all the images I want.

Nonetheless, I am very excited about what my new Leica can do. The camera has a bit of a learning curve, but I'm doing a better job with it than I expected at this stage.

The high, cloudless equatorial sunlight in Malaysia provides a formidable challenge to making interesting, contrasty black and white images outdoors. But the Leica optics are outrageously good. Now and then I'm very happy with the results.

This picture is my attempt to capture the glamour of smoking. Possibly also the glamour of cardboard recycling.

The rest will be available "soon."

Tonight's plan.

2006-03-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

Plan A: Pickin' Tuesday. Cancelled to make way for Plan B.

Plan B: Movie. Cancelled for complex reasons, necessitating a Plan C.

Plan C: Darkroom (developing and scanning). Cancelled due to dependence on the completion of Plan D.

Plan D: Repair flat tire on bicycle that ocurred on the way home from work. Unexpectedly time-consuming. Lack of time for follow-on plans made necessary the formulation of a Plan E.

Plan E: Avoid the pair of Harvard film students staking out the interior of my house with a tripod-mounted camera. (Seriously, isn't this the second or third C-labs documentary?)

Art Photography: The Sinking Ship

2005-07-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

Eastman Kodak, manufacturer of films and papers: discontinuing production of all black-and-white paper.

JOBO Fototechnic, maker of the finest color chemicals and processing machines for small labs: shutting down US operations.

Ilford, manufacturer of B&W films and papers: bankrupt. Discontinuing several films. Rumored to be contemplating the discontinuation of all B&W paper!

Oxford, UK

2005-07-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

Amrysand I have returned from from a brief scientific expedition to Oxford. Our mission has revealed much about the life of a Foonyor Barzane in his natural habitat. Major adventures include:

Getting the insider's tour of the Oxford campus. Funny-looking men with bowler hats ("Excuse me! Excuse me please!") ensure that nobody else gets beyond the room where they shot that Harry Potter movie.
Hitting the outdoor garden pub scene. It was 75 and sunny every day, with sunlight until 10 PM. England, I am certain, has the most favourable weather of any place.
Making complicated attempts at a few home repair projects. Highlights include: pumping algae from the backyard pond (I had packed an electric pump from Cruftlabs), mending a broken stereo speaker, and re-orienting the rooftop aerial to maximise BBC reception. None of these actually succeeded, but who could imagine a vacation without wires, hoses, or extension ladders?
Punting (nautical definition). Jeff made this look pretty easy. With great confidence, I propelled us swiftly into a low-hanging tree and whacked Amrys on the head with a 15 foot Al-yoo-minium pole before I figured out what I was doing.
Grillin' out: burgers, sausages, chicken, and Pimm's. And good company.
Attending the Green College Ball. The black-tie social scene in Oxford is unparalleled. As is the rate at which British university students can consume free alcohol.

I'll put the pictures online in about two weeks. Since the British authorities don't except film from their airport X-ray regimen, Jeff is mailing them to me.

Boat Update #8

2005-07-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

As you may have heard, July 4 was a strange disappointment: after a grueling weekend of all work and no sleep, we finished the boat in time. It looks great! But were prevented from launching it by the rude State Police officer guarding the only public boat ramp on the lower Charles.

So the boat sits, awaiting launch, hopefully this weekend. Then it's off to long-term storage in New Hampshire.

Boat Update #7

2005-06-30T14:26:00.000-05:00

I am completely overwhelemed with job and boat. The latter is coming together, although we are several days behind schedule and somewhat short on help. This weekend will be an exciting time.

Boat Update #6

2005-06-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

I biked 8 miles this morning with a 3000 PSI gas cylinder strapped to my back. Who's welding tonight!? Aww yeah.

Ultimate Aussie-Style

2005-06-24T09:44:00.000-05:00

The latest issue of HEADS! points to some sweet pictures of the Indy car they attached to the side of a skyscraper in downtown Indianapolis. Julia saw this firsthand! Apparently every day at lunchtime, a stunt team would rappel the side of the building and pretend to drive the car. Note that this may be the ultimate Aussie-style rappel.

Boat Update #5

2005-06-20T20:58:00.000-05:00

After a grueling week of work, the '67 Bel Air is now free of its frame, wheels, engine, and transmission. In fact, it is floating... four feet off the ground, on a sturdy pair of sawhorses. I expect that the body-raising will have been the hardest part of the entire operation. The frame assembly was trucked off Saturday by a friendly giant named Vinnie, who described his appearance as that of one who just emerged from the Ozarks. Karen says that this weekend was a major turning point in the whole project: on Friday, the Bel Air was an ordinary car, but tonight, the [airborne] Bel Air body represents the beginnings of a stylish boat.

Amrys is maintaining a site to record our progress. Exciting days ahead!

Der Flim is Okey-Dokey!

2005-06-19T21:57:00.000-05:00

Steve and I hit up Vinny Testa's for a quick pasta dinner and planning session. A film producer named Santiago overheard us talking about doors and assumed that we were theatre set designers. He is looking for people to build film sets. If any of you are interested, contact me and I will pass on his contact information.

Disco

2005-06-17T09:36:00.000-05:00

My crappy pictures are now being distributed by the MIT News Office and the MIT homepage. Isn't that something.

Laptop Writing Desk

2005-06-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

Dude's got a laptop computer now, courtesy of the employer. It's an IBM ThinkPad T-something. It's not so bad. If I had been ordered at gunpoint to purchase a laptop computer, I would probably have picked something like it. It has a pretty big screen and a not-too-small keyboard. It also has a TrackPoint device, which I dig, because touchpads are painfully stupid. Curiously, it has no IEEE 1394 port.

Everyone at the office has so far assumed that I intend to carry it home and back to work every day. That seems kind of dumb to me. Surely they are aware that I already have a home computer?

Boat Update #4

2005-06-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

Boat work has begun. Also, I started my new job today.

Boat Update #3

2005-06-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

I have started running parametric analyses of hull designs as a sort of sanity check. The good news is that, assuming my guess about the finished weight holds true, it will float without adding a lot of extra material.

Boat Update #2

2005-06-09T13:14:00.000-05:00

The donor car for the boat will, in all probability, be this 1967 Chevy Bel Air:

The Fabulous New Salute

2005-06-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

Returning from an early-morning tugboat mission in Boston Harbor, we motored slowly out of the locks, through the Museum of Science canal, and into the Charles River basin. Just before leaving the no-wake zone, we spotted, across the river, a small motorboat labelled "Marine Technology Laboratory."

Since our skiff bore the name of MIT, something had to be done. I searched for my best Magnus Pyke voice, cupped my hands and shouted, "SCIENCE!" It echoed pleasantly across the water.

The three occupants of the research vessel spun around, grinned broadly, and saluted us.

Boat Update #1

2005-06-08T13:04:00.000-05:00

I am building a new boat for July 4. I'm presently scouring New England for a good deal on a 1960s-era convertible with front and rear bench seats. Actually, it need not be a convertible because I can easily make it so (chop chop!), but a closable top would be a nice feature.

There is no official plan yet and work has not yet begun, so please contact me if you would like to help.

Things I Hate

2005-06-08T13:03:00.000-05:00

Cold Stone Creamery, the innocuous-looking ice cream store (based in Tempe, Arizona) that appeared overnight in about 20 neighborhoods here.

It's official! I'm...

2005-06-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

Great Design by Example

2005-06-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

In the lobby of my dad's hotel: a Yamaha Disklavier grand. They're not exactly new, but they're still amazing. Yamaha engineers devised a mechanism for precisely replicating a pianist's timing, attack velocity, sustain, and release. In recording mode, it senses these parameters optically, thus imparting no change to the standard piano action. In playback, a key is struck by a solenoid driven by a power amplifier controlled by a custom closed-loop ASIC. Somehow, they shoehorned 88 of these mechanisms into a normal-looking piano enclosure. It's a perfectly elegant, harmonious marriage of high tech and old-world craftsmanship. It sounds great, and it's even more fun to watch than a real pianist.

The only bummer is that the virtual pianist does nothing to protest the hotel management's decision to play the same song all day on infinite loop.

Your UNIVersal Automatic Computer

2005-05-27T10:14:00.000-05:00

"Look, Harold, we've gone over this a dozen times. The computer doesn't know anything about this 'blogosphere' you keep talking about."

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

2005-05-20T15:54:00.000-05:00

Loose Lips Sink Brinksmanship

2005-05-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

In 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (the man for whom the airport is named) unveiled his policy of "massive retaliation": basically, an announcement that if the Soviets tried any funny stuff, the U.S. would do unspecified horrible things to unspecified Soviet targets at an unspecified scale that would probably be much greater than their original offense. Of course, this strategy is only effective if the U.S. can prove that they are not bluffing. Indeed, the Soviets gently tested the limits on several occasions, at times leading precipitously close to nuclear war. This policy thus evolved into the more familiar "assured destruction."

So it's a little unnerving that today, the electronic front page of the New York Times reads:

U.S. Is Warning North Koreans on Nuclear Test

The Bush administration warned North Korea that if it conducted a nuclear test, the U.S. would take unspecified punitive action.

Oh well. Back to work.

6.190

2005-05-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

Ron Roscoe has finally done it. He's created his dream class, the most clever lab concept at MIT. Coming next Spring to an Institute of Technology near you (should you be near Massachusetts):

INTRODUCTORY RF DESIGN LABORATORY: Learn RF design through the study of
antique radio receiver circuits; restore (and keep!) an antique radio.
 
Lectures, PSets, and six Labs will cover the following topics:
 
Series and parallel tuned circuits and associated bandwidth High Frequency
RF Amps; how to design around the Miller effect Regenerative receiver and
detector circuits Tuned RF [TRF] receivers Neutralized [Neutrodyne] RF Amps
Superheterodyne receivers; oscillators, mixers and IF amps The "All American
Five" AM receiver FM receivers and detectors JFET substitutes for scarce
1920's vacuum tubes RF measurements Common vacuum tube triode and pentode
topologies
 
5 weeks of the term will be devoted to the restoration and circuit analysis
of an antique radio [supplied]
 
Prerequisites: 6.002 or 6.071

In an age where young kids are no longer fascinated by building oatmeal-box crystal radios; where the excitement over the latest achievements in silicon has outpaced interest in the clever trickery of designing with simple, less-than-perfect components; where ham radio has come to be the near-exclusive domain of fat old white men; where the heart of EE -- the craft -- is in danger of being forgotten: this class is a most crucial step toward keeping the art of analog and wireless alive. I am jealous of the students who will get to take it.

Chicken Little

2005-05-11T15:53:00.000-05:00

"Plane Prompts Brief Evacuation of White House and Capitol" is the story of the day. The wayward aircraft in question? A little Cessna 150, which packs about as much ballistic power as a styrofoam brick.

You may recall that in 1994, some weirdo tried to crash an identical Cessna 150 into Clinton's White House bedroom. The Secret Service saw it coming and did the most logical thing: they dove for cover. The damage? The airplane struck a Magnolia tree, skidded along the lawn, and was stopped by some shrubbery in front of the West Wing.

In 2002, an acne-riddled teenager flew a Cessna 172 into a Florida office building. His plane's motion was arrested by a glass window.

So scary, isn't it! Geez.

This Day in History

2005-05-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Fifty years ago today, MIT's fabulous Kresge Auditorium was dedicated. The gala affair featured faculty in academic robes and a presentation by K-Mart founder Sebastian Kresge. They must have known then that 50 years later, Saarinen's one-of-a-kind auditorium would still be counted among the most architecturally important buildings ever built.

Underscoring the event's significance, MIT had commissioned composer Aaron Copland to write, in Copland's words, a work that "makes a big noise." His Canticle of Freedom thus made its world debut at the hands of Klaus Liepmann, the MIT Symphony Orchestra, and several MIT choirs. Much as the auditorium's geometry was intended to intrigue MIT types, Copland's piece was written with the Tech engineer in mind. The US Army Field Band writes: "Knowing the limitations of MIT's non-professional chorus, Copland intentionally restricted the choral writing to unison and two parts, yet spared none of his talent for rhythmic complexity, offering a score that challenges the mathematical skills of any gifted musician."

Technology Review ran a story about Kresge Auditorium for its May issue, but it doesn't mention the best accolade -- however anecdotal -- which would come several years after the dedication. Don Hallock writes for the WGBH Reunion Archive

In about 1960, the world famous (and infamously irascible) architect,Frank Lloyd Wright, gave one of his rare lectures at MIT's Kresge Auditorium. The proceedings were televised live by WGBH and fed down the line to a national audience on NET [renamed "PBS" in 1970 --sj] as well. Recently completed, the Kresge building, which had been designed by renowned Finnisharchitect Eero Saarinen, stood on a broad grassy field just behindthe Channel 2 studio building [now the site of W20 --sj]. Inside was a large, airy facility, 'Scandanavian modern,' with a warmly comfortable interior of natural woods, all housed beneath the span of a graceful, low concrete dome. From the outside, the viewer was immediately struck by the realization that the great dome itself was balanced elegantly on three small, symmetrically-spaced corner points. The soaring, open sides were solid glass, and the edifice was, to say the least, MIT's pride and joy.
Having finished the body of his talk, Mr. Wright agreed to entertain questions from the packed audience. About half way through the exchange an eager young student rose and asked, "Mr. Wright, what do you think of Mr. Saarinen's beautiful auditorium?"
Wright, without a moment's pause, fixed the student with a penetratingstare and replied, "I try not to."

ths mght b nws 2 u

2005-05-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

While it may not be as dramatic as when John Henry beat the steam-drill, there is something remarkable and reassuring about the story of an elderly telegraph operator who outpaces kids at that damn text messaging thing. (Fortunately, unlike his predecessor, he didn't keel over and die upon completing the task.) Since I have been criticized lately for losing touch with my inner Luddite, we turn now to the pages of the other Times:

DOTTY and old-fashioned means of communication can still be the best: Morse code has seen off the challenge of the text message in a contest pitting the best in 19th-century technology against its 21st-century successor.

The race to transmit a simple message, staged by an Australian museum, was won -- at a dash -- by a 93-year-old telegraph operator who tapped it out using the simple system which was devised by Samuel Morse in 1832 and was the mainstay of maritime communication up until 1997.

Gordon Hill, who learnt to use the technique in 1927 when he joined the Australian Post Office, easily defeated his 13-year-old rival, Brittany Devlin, who was armed with a mobile phone and a rich vocabulary of text message shorthand. Mr Hill, whose messages were transcribed by another telegraph veteran, Jack Gibson, 82, then repeated the feat against three other children and teenagers with mobile phones.

In the competition, at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Mr Hill and his rivals were asked to transmit a line selected at random from an advertisement in a teenage magazine.

It read: "Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing." While the telegraphist tapped out the line in full, to be deciphered by Mr Gibson, Miss Devlin employed text slang to save time. She keyed: "hey gf u can txt ur best pals 2 tel them wot u r doing, where ur going and wot u r wearing."

Just 90 seconds after Mr Hill began transmitting, Mr Gibson announced that he had the message received and written down correctly. It took another 18 seconds for Miss Devlin's message to reach the mobile phone belonging to her friend. Mr Hill said that he was impressed by modern technology, even though his clunky telegraph machine emerged on top in three further contests. Text messaging, he said, had even been predicted by one of his colleagues in 1961.

"An engineer told me the day would come when we would be able to send messages without wires," he said. Miss Devlin said that she had two years of texting experience. "I send about three messages a day," she said. "I used to send lots more but I ran out of credit."

Speedy Delivery!

2005-05-04T15:06:00.000-05:00

Let's face it: modern shipping is absolutely amazing.

Last week, with a little persuasion, I convinced the Massachusetts sales office of Philips Electronics to send me a free sample of a nearly-obsolete television chip for my AUP. "We're sending you five, and you should have them in a few days." Golly, thanks!

But what really takes the cake is FedEx, which stunned me once again with their unbelievable speed and precision:

5/3/2005 10:16 AM	Kwai Chung, Hong Kong	Shipping label printed
5/3/2005 3:26 PM	Kwai Chung, Hong Kong	Package picked up
5/3/2005 6:01 PM	Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong	Left origin
5/3/2005 1:27 PM	Anchorage, AK	Arrived at FedEx Location
5/3/2005 2:46 PM	Anchorage, AK	Cleared Customs
5/3/2005 5:50 PM	Anchorage, AK	Departed FedEx Location
5/4/2005 1:14 AM	Memphis, TN	Arrived at FedEx Location
5/4/2005 1:54 AM	Memphis, TN	Departed FedEx Location
5/4/2005 7:18 AM	South Boston, MA	Arrived at FedEx Location
5/4/2005 7:51 AM	South Boston, MA	Loaded on truck for delivery
5/4/2005 9:33 AM	Cruftlabs	Delivered to "Receptionist/Front Desk"

Disregarding little technicalities like time zones and the international date line, that's less than 18 hours from desk to desk, halfway around the world.

Faulty towers

2005-05-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

The residents of Mendham Township are upset! Their lawyers can't stop Verizon from erecting a giant steel cell tower in their idyllic New Jersey neighborhood. Continues the New York Times:

Their losing battle is becoming commonplace as hundreds of communities around the country wage the same fight against cellphone companies and the march of spindly, metallic and freakishly tall antennas into quiet, affluent precincts of suburbia.

But wait -- there's more!

Of course, even the resisters depend on cellphone service. "No one can drive down to the corner to buy milk without calling five people," said Nancy Moorthy, who lives in Bedminster, N.J., not far from Mendham Township, and has been fighting the installation of a cell tower near her home for nearly 10 years.

Yes, that's right: she drives to the corner store. (And kudos to the writer for beginning the paragraph with "of course." A little ironic bias can go a long way in a journalistic career.)

A federal law prevents communities from rejecting tower sitings on the basis of health concerns, because the RF field is only lethal within a few feet. Public resistance focuses mostly on aesthetic concerns. Regrettably, no attention is paid to the most serious outstanding issue with cellular towers, which is that they're incredibly fatal to birds.

So remember, kids: every time your cell phone rings, another little songbird severs its wings.

Content-free since 2001!

2005-05-01T01:29:00.000-05:00

Some hackneyed liberal crap

2005-04-27T08:24:00.000-05:00

Getty Images Photo

"And over here is next year's model, which, I'm told, will get only four miles per gallon!"

ADITL

2005-04-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

I ran out into the street to take a picture of the passing car.

"Hey man, no evidence, alright?" shouted the driver when he saw my camera.

"Nice car!" I replied, not fully understanding him.

"No man, I said no fucking evidence, alright?" he replied, covering his face with a hat while I took the picture. His passenger crouched down below the dashboard.

"Umm, yeah. Sure."

Acela

2005-04-23T13:02:00.000-05:00

"What is Acela? It's the room under the first floor."

-- David Gunn, president of Amtrak, quoted in The New York Times

Materialism

2005-04-22T17:23:00.000-05:00

There are a few things about my Nikon N80 that I don't like. A couple of those problems manifested themselves today. It would seem that the simple solution is to trade up to an F100. But, incredibly, the top-of-the-line Nikon F5 can be had for the same price these days. Unfortunately the F5 is also twice as heavy as the F100, since it essentially hewn from a solid block of magnesium. Not a great vacation camera, unless you need it to double as a weapon.

What if I got a Leica M6 instead? It's light, it's silent, it has zero shutter lag, and it doesn't even need batteries. Those wily Germans.

Or I could get my own Widelux, and take pictures that digital cameras will never be able to make. The Tech has one, but it is presently broken (Thanks kids!). It's not a great general-purpose camera, of course. It doesn't even have a light meter.

Or I could turn my life around and buy a Sinar, a heavier tripod, and a big sturdy case. Then I could take pictures the way God intended for them to be taken.

Or I could get back to work.

The Trouble With NASA

2005-04-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

I subscribe to NASA's press-release LISTSERV. This was the only thing in my inbox this morning, so I had to read it twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It highlights the real, dangerous problem with the American space program: it is headquartered in Texas.

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 15:39:19 -0500
From: info@JSC.NASA.GOV
Subject: ATTWATERS PRAIRIE CHICKENS MOVE TO NASA JSC

April 20, 2005

Linda Matthews-Schmidt
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281/483-5111

Brian Hill
Houston Zoo
713/801-8040

Report #J05-017

ATTWATER'S PRAIRIE CHICKENS MOVE TO NASA JSC

Once there were about a million of them, but now fewer than 50 are left in the wild. Before long, some of the endangered Attwater's Prairie Chickens in the Houston Zoo's breeding program will move to NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Establishment of a breeding facility on about two acres of JSC land is part of a new agreement between the zoo and the space center. That agreement also sets aside about 10 acres of JSC land to grow eucalyptus trees and other plants as food for zoo animals.

"The JSC Team is excited about this partnership," said JSC Director Jefferson D. Howell, Jr. "Part of NASA's mission is to understand and protect our home planet, and we are happy to play a small part in preserving the Attwater's Prairie Chicken population. . . ."

A Conversation with the JP Licks Cashier

2005-04-15T00:17:00.000-05:00

"You're a student, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then you must go to MIT."
"Yep. Wait, is it really that obvious?"
"Yes."

It is strange...

2005-04-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

...that someone in a rumpled suit would speed-park his Jaguar at D'Angelo's, then actually go inside.

...that the "large" sandwiches at the new Quizno's are inadequately large for a meal, yet they also offer a "regular" and a "small." (I asked to see these other sizes for comparison, but they could not do it.)

...that Quizno's displays their ordinary-looking sandwich breads in a wood-grained case labelled "ARTISAN BREADS." On closer inspection, the "artisan case" is clearly made of plastic with a painted-on wood grain.

...that one would ever consider taking a fast-food chain's claims seriously.

Could be worse

2005-04-11T13:56:00.000-05:00

This morning I found myself at Bruegger's, as I have nearly every Monday morning this term. While I waited at the counter, the next guy in line stepped up, with his back to me. He was wearing a construction-site yellow rain slicker, a hard hat, and an orange Type II PFD. Yes, a freakin' life vest. Ordering a bagel.

"Lost at sea?" I asked, for lack of any bagel-related wit.

He turned around. The PFD was stencilled clearly with the words "BIG DIG LIFE VEST." I told him it was, uh, quite a life vest.

"Oh! I'm just having a little fun. I was just up at Fenway. The media love this. I've already been in the Boston Globe three times, and now they want me on TV next week!"

An update

2005-04-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

This page is obviously not being updated very frequently. Normally when I get this busy I start looking for other little tasks -- like updating web pages -- but for whatever reason that is not the case here.

As I write this, the last day of classes is 798 hours, 45 minutes away. It seems that I have 800 hours of work to accomplish by then.

notsnhoj ttosc

2005-04-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age!

New Look

2005-04-04T22:46:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start dressing like this now.

Paganini

2005-04-03T22:09:00.000-05:00

I picked up the Hyperion album of Leslie Howard playing Liszt's Paganini Etudes. Conclusion: Pretty good, but not quite perfect.
Franz Liszt was a hyperactive, chain-smoking piano virtuoso with a penchant for alcohol and women. (Supposedly he hooked up with pianist Marie Pleyel on a borrowed couch in Chopin's apartment.) It is evident from his playing, I think, that Leslie Howard has few of these noble traits, which is slightly disappointing.

2003-04-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

Someone start a band named "The Gain-Bandwidth Product." Please.

2003-03-16T22:58:00.000-05:00

Construction on my suspended ceiling began today with the fabrication of a 28" x 66" rectangular panel. The idea is to have white panels of various interlocking shapes suspended on cables, with a bit of empty space between them so one can still see the true ceiling. Building each panel will unfortunately be a labor-intensive process. For reasons of fire safety, I decided to make the surface out of 1/2" drywall. The drywall is strengthened at the edges by a thin frame of wood glued-and-screwed to the back. While I was watching this glue dry, I realized that the longitudinal frame members were not stiff enough to prevent sagging over time as the piece hangs from its corners: drywall is heavy! So I supplemented all this with heavy-gauge steel 2x8's glued-and-screwed in parallel down the length of the drywall. I managed to tape and mud the corners and surface imperfections before the end of the day, but this panel still requires at least one pass of sanding and another coat of mud before it can be primed, painted and hung. Then I repeat the above steps about 5 more times.

2003-02-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

Bare concrete floors are impossible to clean. Despite frequent mopping, dark articles of clothing that come in contact with my bedroom floor always seem to pick up dirt. Since the ability to store perfectly wearable clothes on my bedroom floor is so essential to my lifestyle, I have begun to coat my room with Armstrong S-403, a "metal cross-linked acrylic copolymer floor polish."

2003-01-20T22:52:00.000-05:00

The train-whistle doorbell is working again... now in stereo! The system may be the most complicated doorbell ever, with a filter, a regulator, a solenoid valve, a relay, pressure-balancing needle valves for each whistle, and a whole bunch of Swagelok tubing fittings, all mounted on an attractive aluminum panel.

2003-01-11T22:51:00.000-05:00

Built the CruftCycle XC-1 High Wire Bicycle of Doom today, with fellow Putzen Jeff, Dale, Chia, and Mark. The finished product is an old women's ten-speed stripped of its tires, straddling a taut horizontal steel cable with its bare rims. Steel tubes bolted parallel to the bike's seatpost drop vertically and suspend a tall Unistrut frame below the bike which, at its bottom terminus, forms a seat for the human counterweight.

Hastily strapped to the top of Jeff's BMW, the CruftCycle XC-1 was transported to East Campus and erected between two trees in the courtyard. This attracted the attention of a passing Campus Police officer, who demanded to know if I had obtained a "permit" for the contraption. The pressure of being tactful with a cop while standing atop of a ladder in the freezing cold with a crowd of 20 people watching just too much, so I asked exactly what kind of permit was applicable to installing a flying bicycle in a courtyard at midnight. Should I have asked the MIT arborists for permission to climb their trees? He paused for a moment, perhaps sensing the asinine nature of his request, and mumbled something about asking the deans (yeah, right) before walking back to his cruiser. Within a few minutes, we had attracted another three police cars, but we continued our construction as the East Campus Housemaster personally convinced "the Sarge" that everything was alright. Jeff mused that, ironically, the police would have been much happier if we were inside getting drunk.

Several people, including myself, then successfully traversed the high-wire on the CruftCycle in a brief show for the crowd that was spontaneoulsy emcee'd by our very own jrandall, who by complete coincidence was sporting a tuxedo, top hat, and cane.

Regrettably, a minor engineering flub resulted in a collapse of the lower seat late in the evening, which nearly spelled the end of the Housemaster, who was at that unfortunate moment attempting to mount the rider's seat 12 feet off the ground in a noble display of faith in our engineering skills. That will be my last use of MDF for anything structural. And probably the last time the EC Housemaster asks for a ride on any of our contraptions whose titles bear the words "Of Doom."

2002-11-22T22:49:00.000-05:00

Time passes. You feel weary.
Must install HVAC ductwork.

2002-10-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

On extracting a sheared-off 1/4" pipe nipple: Good luck finding a 1/4" NPT internal pipe wrench in town. Or anyone who knows what one is, for that matter. Instead, tap the trapped pipe with a 3/8"-16 tap. Coat the threads of a 3/8" bolt with cyanoacrylate or Loctite, and wrench it in snugly. Drink 1-2 beers. The bond has now hardened; removing bolt with wrench will bring the broken pipe nipple with it.

2002-08-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Till Winkler, the industrial designer behind the new Oral B Indicator toothbrush, speaks:

Q:
What kind of toothbrush do you use at home?

A:
I'm constantly trying different ones. There are probably 16 toothbrushes in my bathroom.

Q:
Your work appears to follow you home. Do you have a toothbrush holder?

A:
No. In Germany we don't have those crazy things.
From "A Little Brush, Reborn," The New York Times, August 1, 2002.

2002-06-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

Michael Kimmelman has a wonderful New York Times article, "Does a Painter with a Camera Cheat?" that intelligently addresses the ever-present bickering within the art community about photography, painting, and manipulation. Critics of the use of digital manipulation in photography (myself included) will find his historically-founded argument to the contrary difficult to disagree with.

2002-06-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

Dammit. I have learned that others using this reverse-chronological, dated-comment format for their web pages have developed a new buzzword to describe themselves: "bloggers." How stupid is that.

Yesterday, I scavenged an HP 8568A 1.65 GHz spectrum analyzer from a trash pile! Unfortunately, I only have the RF section. If you have the IF-Display section for the 8568A, I am determined to buy it or trade for it.

It's almost as much fun as a weekend in the New Hampshire White Mountains.

2002-05-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

The MIT Libraries web site has been promising a non-JavaScript-dependent version of their awful search system for over a year. Currently, you can't print your search results (apparently, the text isn't really there!) and cut-and-paste is a disaster. Fortunately, the government has intervened.

2002-05-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

Now playing: Thomas Tallis, Spem in alium nunquam habui ("In No Other is my Hope"), Sir David Willcocks and The Choir of King's College, Cambridge. A motet in 40 parts for eight five-voice choirs, written circa 1575. Absolutely entrancing. Hypnotic. Exhilarating. Try it.

2002-05-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

According to the New York Times (May 9, 2002), the new cutting edge in evangelism is the so-called "megachurch." Notable new ideas:

A Louisville church with 16 basketball courts and a health club that plays Christian music, free to members
A Houston church opening a McDonald's franchise within, to "create a controlled, protective setting" for kids
The "Greenlee Communion Dispensing Machine," which can apparently fill 40 communion cups in 2 seconds.

Can this get any weirder?

2002-05-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

Checklist for today:

Invest in questionable foreign real estate portfolios
Optimize my e-Business for just-in-time B2B solutions
Penetrate secure government computers, erase all records of Thirteenth Amendment. Open first Internet slave trading site.
Assemble and weld giant neo-modernist metal sculpture of chef's hat. Name it "Iron Chef."
Reach MILLIONS with targeted E-MAILS !!!

2002-05-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

The monitor on this computer is covered in grease. Lots of grease. Smear-marks, finger-prints, hand-prints. Maybe I'm a unique case here, but none of the programs I've ever run on Athena do anything special when you poke the screen. Oh well.