A Little Ludwig Goes a Long Way

A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.

Just what is so freaking secret?

20 September 2006

I’ve been thinking about HP’s actions – A Little Ludwig Goes A Long Way: “Pretexting” – and I’ve been wondering – just what is the board of a public company talking about that is so freaking secret? Why do they feel the need to treat a leak like a threat to national security? I really can’t wrap my head around this. I wonder why more board meetings aren’t open like many government proceedings are. I bet that would put a damper on ceo pay abuses among other board missteps.

Basic Lovefest

20 September 2006

Feld Thoughts: Where Has BASIC Gone? – Feld and commenters participate in the discussion about BASIC.

I’ve recently come back to BASIC, programming BASIC stamps for Halloween. I have to say, it is quite fun to be able to jump into a program so fast without all the object/ui/typing/etc overhead of “modern” languages or “modern” incarnations of BASIC. totally dangerous of course, but still quite fun. i’d rather be able to use python or something a bit more au courant, but they don’t make Python stamps.

Halloween ramping up

18 September 2006

All my gear and props delivered from door  to door storage over the weekend and unpacked today.  I’ve used these guys for storage for 4 years now and they have been great.

Got my pneumatic valves hooked up to EFX-TEK :: Prop-1 Controller. This is my planned controller strategy this year. Seems to work just great – I don’t have air hooked up yet but the valves are all click-clacking away under program control.

Also got my i-zombie lighting controllers today. As is obvious, I am moving away a little from pc-based control this year and towards a bunch of discrete systems – easier to debug, harder to manage.

Oh and Scott graciously showed me some of his past work – awesome. I am really motivated to give the axworthy ghost another try tho I may not have the time this year.

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Buckeyes in '07

13 September 2006

Buckeye Fans Already Setting Sights On Next Year’s Championship

AUSTIN, TX–After watching their team’s decisive victory over the Texas Longhorns on Saturday, Ohio State fans realized that the Buckeyes were virtually unbeatable and perfect in every way. Having locked up the 2006 NCAA championship in only the second week of the season, those fans were left to ponder the only question remaining: Who will the Buckeyes beat in 2007?

Delusional Key Banger

10 September 2006

I’d never seen this before Creature Supply – records 4 minutes of firing events for 6 output lines, and then replays on receipt of an input trigger (IR, switchmat, etc). Seems useful.

Big Ten looked pretty lame today

09 September 2006

Of course the Buckeyes looked brilliant in beating Texas in Texas as expected. So all is basically right with the world. But look at the rest of these outcomes – NCAA Football Scoreboard - CBS SportsLine.com

* Wisconsin seemed to win handily over a weak opponent, they can feel good. * Michigan and Michigan State won by big margins over weak opponents – but each gave up a lot of first half points. * Iowa, Purdue, and Indiana struggled to win against clearly inferior opponents. I guess Indiana should feel good about any victory. * Penn State and Minnesota thumped by top 25 teams. * and Illinois and Northwestern thumped by weak opponents.

After the 11-0 Big Ten start last week I was feeling pretty good about the league. Not so much now.

"Pretexting"

07 September 2006

Wired News: HP Dragnet Grabbed 9 Reporters – isn’t this just lying? Fraud? Tactics equivalent to social engineering used by identity thieves? Why does the press keep calling this “pretexting”? Seems like felony class fraud to me.