Jon Web Log

Megan Fix is hot

2009-05-15T23:53:00.000-06:00

Only because she was in Transformers.

terminology

2009-05-13T21:41:00.001-06:00

story arcs are threads in math/science lingo

imho, threads is a better descriptor

firefly, season 4

2009-05-13T21:30:00.001-06:00

super awesome ending

slither, the movie

2009-05-13T21:29:00.001-06:00

is whedonesque. evidently, joss had nothing to do with it, but I would say he definitely influenced it.

joss whedon's best work, by far, exponentially, is firefly

2009-05-09T21:54:00.002-06:00

it's non-soapoperatic

Fox fools, cancelled firefly, now dollhouse

2009-05-02T01:40:00.001-06:00

Whedon characters

2009-04-11T23:00:00.002-06:00

River, Echo, Sierra, November, Willow

wow! Iowa is on the awesome list, no bigotry there

2009-04-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

News Release
For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal
House Speaker Pat Murphy

Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing civil rights

This is a joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy on today's Supreme Court decision:

"Thanks to today's decision, Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing all of our citizens' equal rights.

"The court has ruled today that when two Iowans promise to share their lives together, state law will respect that commitment, regardless of whether the couple is gay or straight.

"When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today's events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency.

"Today, the Iowa Supreme Court has reaffirmed those Iowa values by ruling that gay and lesbian Iowans have all the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as any other Iowan.

"Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.

"In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue.

"In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law.

"In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.

"Today, we congratulate the thousands of Iowans who now can express their love for each other and have it recognized by our laws."

the Bush legacy

2009-04-02T23:23:00.002-06:00

seth green

2009-04-02T23:11:00.001-06:00

guess that I like Seth Green now, after his performance in Buffy, season 3. :/

take five

2009-03-29T21:03:00.003-06:00

This song written by Paul Desmond and performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet is one of the best ever.

Claire De Lune

2009-03-26T21:10:00.001-06:00

this song brings me to tears

twilight

2009-03-26T20:59:00.001-06:00

I'm watching the movie and they're playing the Claire de Lune, one of my all-time favorite songs. great movie too, should probably read the book.

Bobby Jindal's volcano erupted

2009-03-23T17:53:00.001-06:00

To quote John Aravosis:

"

Bobby Jindal's volcano erupted

by John Aravosis (DC)

The one he was criticizing the monitoring of? Just erupted in the last day or so. A friend writes:

Erupted 4 times overnight. Nobody’s dead. The FAA and the National Weather Service know where the ash cloud is (drifting away, not toward, Anchorage, thank God) and planes are being diverted around it. Gee, it’s a good thing people were monitoring.

The eruption was accurately predicted when the number of earthquakes on the mountain suddenly jumped to 40 to 50 per hour Sunday morning. So everybody had time to get ready.

Your tax dollars put to work by dedicated scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey who keep doing their jobs even when politicians decide to demean their work for a cheap sound bite.

If we were approaching this from a less scientific perspective, some might be tempted to appease the volcano gods by throwing somebody into the crater. Since he doesn’t like volcano monitoring, perhaps Bobby Jindal would volunteer?

Bill O'Reilly is smarter than karl rove

2009-03-13T21:08:00.001-06:00

i feel like an idiot for saying this. has o'reilly turned a new leaf? i'm so confused?

Jim Cramer

2009-03-13T21:01:00.002-06:00

hey, the guy did and excellent job on the Jon Stewart show. He was grilled and responded respectively. I was impressed and am subsequently supporting the guy. He took the burden/bridle of everything finance related. I guess, based on this interview, that he is a good man. at the very least, he's got some balls.

PS:

firefly

2009-02-02T23:31:00.001-07:00

Serenity is Episode 15 of Firefly.

NOW

2009-01-30T20:46:00.004-07:00

NOW is a show on pbs, with former Marketplace host David Brancaccio. Currently he is talking about business and economics with Bethany McL:ean and he is in his element. He rocks. When he is talking about b&e the show is like Marketplace with video!

Bethany McLean

2009-01-30T20:42:00.003-07:00

Is on the awesome list. She first investigated and reported the Enron scandal and has great insight on the latest crisis. Currently writing for Vanity Fair, she would probably be better suited running Vanity Fair. Co-Author "The smartest guys in the room". She was interviewed by David Brancaccio on NOW on pbs tonight.

Kevin James (and will smith) r awesome

2009-01-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

summer glau is awesome

2009-01-17T21:15:00.001-07:00

My tribute to the Pats

2008-12-29T00:00:00.003-07:00

Patriots went 11-5 this season and yet didn't make the playoffs, while the Chargers (8-8) did make it into the playoffs. There is something wrong with the current system.

Morgan Freeman

2008-06-13T22:18:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite thespians. Truly a cool cool, modern guy, and a good actor.

Alize' (pronounced Alazay per 2pac)

2008-04-12T21:11:00.001-06:00

The first beverage in the line, Alizé Gold Passion, was created in 1984 by Marie-Claude and Jean Paul Lafragette as a blend of French cognac, passion fruit juice, and other exotic fruit juices.

Bob Marley should be revered as a God

2008-04-12T20:30:00.001-06:00

A quote (seems to suggest he was a Taoist?):

I don't have prejudice against himself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.

Rest In Peace Cachao

2008-03-22T21:25:00.001-06:00

The World lost a great one today: Israel Lopez.

Joe Napoiltano

2008-03-19T20:20:00.000-06:00

Mediocre actor, but he's cool. Cheers.

"The Terrorists"

2008-01-30T19:40:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, because the Bush admin has overused the term terrorist to demonize any opponent of theirs, even political, labelling someone as a Terrorist these days has little or no meaning. In fact, oppressive governments around the world are now using this jargon to label just about anyone who opposes them as a terrorist, people whom me might classify as freedom fighters. This is what happens when you put someone, who can't spell, in charge of the only hyperpower in the world.

My complaints against Google

2008-01-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the greatest search engine on the planet can't index my blog for greater searching on the web, at the very least, on google.com?

bloody. annoying.

Jon Collis

The Illusionist vs The Prestige

2008-01-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Two movies that came out at the same time, both excellent, but here I cast my vote for the better of the two.

The Illusionist:
This movie is FANTASTIC. I don't like Edward Norton, but I LOVE him in this movie. Jessica Biel is a truly classic thespian in this film, great acting establishing herself as the greatest of the two modern 'Jessica' actors. Beautiful love story.

The Prestige:
Great movie. Good science. Truly inventive plot. I have no complaints of this film, in fact, only praise. I loved it. When compared against the Illusionist, I must place it second, otherwise hard to say how classic the film. Great plot, great acting (from the Reign of Fire dude at the very least, if not Hugh Jackman), and fun.

How to put multiple images into one figure in Latex

2008-01-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

AKA, get four subfigures in one plot in Latex. easily:

After wasting an hour of my time, this is the answer:

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
{\bf a.}
\pdfimage width 3in {HLAarea2.png} \quad
{\bf b.}
\pdfimage width 3in {TEMPERATURE.png}
}
\mbox{
{\bf c.}
\pdfimage width 3in {magicplot_aug19_0830.jpg} \quad
{\bf d.}
\pdfimage width 3in {magicplot_aug19_1330.jpg}
}
\caption{Need better (a): (need better pic which indicates IW positions)}
\label{fig:1}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

The result (why does LaTeX and getting help with LaTeX have to be so difficult):

Batman Begins

2008-01-13T00:11:00.001-07:00

"You can borrow the Rolls if you like, just bring it back with a full tank."

Shooter -- Mark Wahlberg

2008-01-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

I really like this movie for some reason. Probably because Marky-Mark kicks some arse.

"I don't think you understand, these boys shot my dog."

"Welcome to Tennessee, patriot state of shooting stuff."

Q: "You know this for a fact?"
A: "Still got the shovel."

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

2008-01-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

If you are not aware of the history of this great great man, then please read up.

The African President.

Bad News Bears

2007-12-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm watching the Billy Bob Thornton version of this movie and it is bloody hillarious. There is a bit of cussing (f-bombing for you less than aware), but who cares, it is funny as hell. Classic. I highly recommend.

New Orleans 1

2007-11-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

Went to a "Jazz Club"
tonight in New Orleans. Named, 300 Bistro. Very disappointing, no real jazz. The show started with a high school band singing acapela, which is cool, but not for the price.

A beautiful feature of the Mac/OS X

2007-11-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

When I say MAC, I don't mean Modal Attenuation Coefficient! ;)

A feature of OS X that I use extensively is that anything you have open on the screen you can save to PDF. It is a beautiful thing. Word docs, HTML pages, anything can be saved. Makes my life easy. I'm applying for jobs right now and saving everything as PDF to submit makes it really easy. Saving time with the Mac and loving it.

Lamest Movie Ever!

2007-11-24T19:45:00.002-07:00

Displaced.

Holy crap, can't believe I wasted $5 on this one. Pretty weak.

What came before th Big Bang?

2007-11-11T20:01:00.001-07:00

The Tao.

Christmas Cards

2007-11-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please
Include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
C/O Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your e-mail list.

(Of course, if you don't want to send something to an American soldier, you could always pick another delivery destination.)

V for Vendetta

2007-11-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

A most excellent film that I highly recommend. The critics were less than impressed, giving it a B and an average user rated it with a B+ rating, which is good I suppose. Plot is original and impressive, dialogue impressive, acting superb (Hugo Weaving is the man). Most citizen reviewers seem to relate the film to the current Bush regime, however it is a fun film that doesn't necessarily need to have modern relation, though it may implicitly. Also, good historical basis ties in nicely. I'm not a fan of Natalie Portman, but am impressed she was in this show. Good dialogue and points made apparent.

subtitles

2007-10-23T21:14:00.000-06:00

my brother is the man with some of his ideas. my hat tips to him. A recent idea of his that I've enjoyed, is to watch movies with subtitles (in English). There is a ton of dialogue that is missed in movies and doing this catches a ton of stuff. good stuff. good stuff.

feelings

2007-10-19T21:03:00.000-06:00

sorrow, confusion, helplessness, awe, anger, frustration, interest, resilience, anticipation, optimism, hope, calm, impressed (Francis Mcdormand), homesickness, cold, warmth, love, disappointment, longing, resolve, peace, wonder, bitterness, passion, surprise, disgust, humor.

'Good Germans'

2007-10-15T07:02:00.000-06:00

From Frank Rich:

Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.

The Fourth Estate

2007-10-13T22:19:00.000-06:00

"It's the only job protected by the Constitution...This is tyranny. When you see it, you're obliged to yell.", Morgan Freeman in the movie Edison Force. It may have been scripted, but bloody beautiful. Doesn't that seem so appropriate to the present time of fear and government control.

Good reporting simply doesn't exist these days. I mean, Katie Couric is running 60 Minutes (of fluff). WTF??

I just signed up for Extra! at fair.org and would encourage others to support this organization that is critical of the media and the work they do. The also produce the radio program and podcast Counterspin, which is insightful and most excellent.

What will it take to get the media back?

What started the downfall of the media?

King George

2007-10-10T19:00:00.000-06:00

What do you think about the Supreme Court decision yesterday to stomp on the Bill of Rights and give the Executive carte blanch to torture whomever they like and simply say that it is a 'state secret' issue and that they can't be held to account? King George with no clothes, indeed. Thank you Stephen Colbert for the only light in this otherwise dark time.

Fidelity Investments supports genocide in Darfur.

2007-10-07T13:06:00.000-06:00

Through investments in Chinese companies that are doing business in Darfur, Fidelity Investments supports genocide in Darfur. Their response to this disgrace was there their decision was a business one.

Do not do business with this company. Do not allow them to pass this off to someone else. Do not allow them to contribute financially to the slaughter and rape of innocents in Darfur. The line must be drawn.

most excellent license plate

2007-08-13T20:54:00.000-06:00

My license plate is 36N W71, which can be interpreted as a lat and long coordinate. Checking Google Maps (image attached) this location in on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. I believe this to be the exact location of Osama bin Laden. Prove me wrong.

Anti-Americanism

2007-07-06T05:19:00.000-06:00

I had the fortune of being sent to Greece for my work. The food and people are awesome.

I was in Greece during the American Independence Day (July 4th), not too much going on here. There was a peace protest downtown and I saw a sign that said "Stop the war. Fuck the Americans" -- we can pretty much thank people who voted for and continue to support George Bush for that. The people here in GR have otherwise been very friendly.

So, let me ask this basic question. Is Anti-American sentiment (the obvious root cause of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks) lesser or greater than it was prior to 9/11? The obvious answer is that it is greater. Why is it greater? Because under George Bush we have been acting like an imperial dynasty, doing as we wish. Because of this inescapable fact, are we now safer or in more danger than we were prior to George Bush. The logical conclusion is that we are less safe and this is a result of the failed Cheney/Bush anti-world international policy. It is obviously time for a major change.

And now my rant: If you voted for George Bush, you should be ashamed of yourself and trying to make amends. How could we have known you might say? One major clue would have been that the idiot couldn't form a complete sentence! You voted into the position of leader of the free world a complete and bumbling moron. What were you thinking? "He's one of us." - perhaps? Do you really want your redneck retard neighbor in control of a nuclear arsenal?? Perhaps another response is that Al Gore and John Kerry could not have done any better. -- Another poor argument, as I think it safe to assume that we would not have invaded Iraq under either of these two as we have under the current neocon cabal.

The time is now for some accountability. One more note on American imperialism under George Bush -- King George has just pardoned Lewis Scooter Libby to cover his and Dick Cheney's butts. Someone should be paying for this major crime that was committed -- that of treason against the USA (for nothing more than political means).

OS X crash

2007-05-04T18:52:00.000-06:00

OS X 10.4 just crashed on me for the first time ever. I was forced to re-install the operating system. It actually ported the majority of my settings and software, so relatively painless other than lost time (8 hours). Apple support was unable to solve the problem, simply told me to reinstall, somewhat tedious.

(All you Windows lovers out there will no doubt love to hear this, given my rants about the superiority of OS X. I still stand by Apple on this one -- had Windows crashed so that I had to re-install, my settings would not have saved as near perfectly on the Mac.)

Compaq Visual Fortran to the Rescue!!!

2007-05-03T21:51:00.000-06:00

The single best fortran 77 compiler in existence today, is the Digital/Compaq Visual Fortran compiler. Unix/g77/other compilers simply do not detect many of the errors that will prevent an application from running. g77 is horrific when it comes to this, failing to check basic programming language symantics. bloody annoying. thank you to the people who made this compiler, it is very powerful.

VT

2007-04-18T20:40:00.000-06:00

Any thoughts on the recent shootings in Virginia? Aside from the obvious one: 33 people dead in VA; approx 200 dead per day in Iraq. Equal press coverage? hell no, but perhaps more than expected. Two things I note are, one that european countries (and others) that outlaw guns have a dramatically lower murder rate, specifically related to shooting deaths (A statistic I read, that in 2006, Britain had 30 gun related deaths and NYC had 580). Second, would the death toll have been lower, had the kids at this school been taught self-defence (I hear reports that students watched on, while the shooter reloaded and then shot them.)? Have we become complacent in our education system/society?

Greatest Living American

2007-04-18T20:29:00.000-06:00

Stephen Colbert. This man is an example for us all. I would argue that his greatest moment (to date) was at the White House Press Corp. Correspondants Dinner, in which he publicly denounced President Bush for exactly all of the absurd nonsense he has forced down the American peoples throats. Colbert deserves a medal.

The Late News -- wtf

2007-04-15T19:40:00.000-06:00

Can someone explain to me why the late evening news comes on at 11:00 pm on the east coast, where out west, it comes on at 10:00 pm.

trenchtown

2007-03-14T00:07:00.000-06:00

must be saved

Wordplay

2007-03-11T20:19:00.000-06:00

Highly recommended: the Movie: Wordplay

This movie is a documentary about crossword puzzles, specifically about the New York Times daily crossword, by Will Shortz (who got a degree in puzzleology from college). Well made, fun film.

PS: No surprise about the champ, ;)

Yahoo is in need of a decapitation coup

2007-03-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yahoo is in need of new management. The website offers everything, however there is no attention to detail and only surficial niceties are built into their user experience. Products that please me to use, for the most part: Apple, Goole.

Don't get me wrong, Yahoo is good, but clearly lacking intelligence.

from the great state of New Mexico

2007-01-29T11:25:00.001-07:00

From Americablog.com (a great quote and so true):

Pam Spaulding has a link to an insightful editorial on the GOP's obsession with all things gay. From the Alamogordo (New Mexico) Daily News, the headline reads "Republicans: Stop thinking about gay sex" and the first line is priceless:

It seems to me Republicans spend more time thinking about gay sex than any other group of people in the known world even more so than gay people trying to find other gay people with whom to have sex.

Couldn't have written it better ourselves. The editorial focuses on a gay-obsessed state legislator in New Mexico. But the sentiment can be applied to George Bush, Sam Brownback, Marilyn Musgrave, Mitt Romney...the list goes on and on....

Japan refuses to properly attone for WWI - WWII atrocities

2007-01-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Denial of the Japanese rape of Nanking and related atrocities can no longer go unatoned for in Japan. Their brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula should also be apologized for and marked in their history books, as it is not at the present time.

Bill Richardson for President!

2007-01-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Other than being a New Mexican, which is good enough in my book, Richardson has extensive experience in Washington and is an outsider. Hillary Clinton is too divisive a figure, so please Democrats, please do not elect her in a primary. She is too close to power, being a member of congress. Bill Richardson is an intelligent, strong willed individual with experience. Note that he is governor of New Mexico, and most of the presidents in the last 25 years have come from the governor position. The governorship has proven to be an important proving ground for recent presidents and Richardson has done a spectacular job in that role as the governor of NM over the past several years.

Note that I'm not a Democrat (independent), but it seems only intelligent to focus just on the Democrat candidates in the upcoming election, given the bollix that Republicans have made of everything over the last 6 years. The American public would have to be a bunch of fools to vote for more of the same (though they did vote for this retard W. Bush twice!).

Richardson, 2008!

Firefly

2007-01-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

bring it back

Penalty Kicks Should Never Decide a World Cup Final Match

2007-01-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

World Cup Final 2006: France v Italy, 1-1 Tie, then Penalty Kicks to decide the ultimate football (soccer) match. Why should the contestants of this match not keep playing and decide the game on the field rather than the clumsy penalty kick shootout. Add another half to the game, golden goal if need be after the second full game. Ice hockey games are settled in this matter, leading to some great contests, why not the World Cup?

Another example is the 1994 Final, Brasil v Italy, 0-0 Tie, then Penalty Kicks. Good matchup but a poor way to decide a game. In fact, I believe no finals match should ever be decided by a shootout. Let the game be decided on the field.

Encrypted Email

2007-01-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

Using email? You must assume that every message you send is read, scrutinized. Indications of this level of invasion of your privacy can be found in spam.

Anyone (friends, family, ...) interested in communicating on a permanent basis with me using encrypted email?

John Aravosis may be militant, but he’s cool

2007-01-09T16:57:00.001-07:00

Bush's world

by John in DC - 12/01/2006 04:05:00 PM

It's an absolute mess in Lebanon and Iraq. This is the price you pay for electing an idiot as president. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.

Zeitgeist

2007-01-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

It would seem that an important part of our current culture is fantasy and science fiction material. Possibly brought on by the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, there has been a lot of movies coming out recently with similar fantastic themes. Having been reading fantasy books aggressively since I was very young, this is all awesome for me!

Iraq=Vietnam

2007-01-09T16:55:00.003-07:00

Let us not march down the path of folly again. I don’t suggest a complete US pullout, but let us end this madness, we look like a bunch of fools right now. Are we not smarter than this?

Time to putting an end to buying the vote

2007-01-09T16:55:00.001-07:00

Today’s date is listed above. It has been clear for a good time now that the Republican party is capable of outspending the Democrats for elections. Why can the US Government be bought? The greatest democracy (longest standing) is history should be above selling to the highest bidder. Money should not be a factor in democractic politics.

It is a difficult problem, with many facets, but there is a solution and time needs to be spent to find that solution. Money politics is a contradiction to a true democracy.

Gerhard Schroeder may be the man

2007-01-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated," Schroeder wrote. "But we fail to recognize that in the USA, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."

- Gerhard Schroeder

Seriously, where is that separation of church and state in the good ole US of A?

129 Hamlin Avenue

2007-01-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

Various pictures from around the chateau.

Checkout the basement office and the various rooms around the house. Also, far too many pictures of the yard, but all of the gardens are really cool (at least I think so).

The Degree

2007-01-09T16:31:00.001-07:00

Three years of schooling and you get another piece of paper to add to the collection!

My daily commute to WHOI

2007-01-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

It is rough riding the 5 miles to work every day. Actually, I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do this. I’ll ride as long as the weather permits. It has been mild lately, so I should get at least a month of two more. I’m at WHOI every day except Tuesday when I go up to BU to work in my office there and “fly the flag” as the boss man says. I’m actually a BU employee, it is just that everyone I work with is at WHOI.

The bike path is actually an old rail line that was taken out and converted to a bike path. It goes from right next to our house in Falmouth right into Woods Hole. I hear that during the summer it is packed and somewhat dangerous, but right now there are just random people. The trail goes right next some really nice beaches. My friend Guilherme went windsurfing off one of them this past weekend.

Keep big media out of politics

2007-01-09T16:27:00.001-07:00

ABC and parent Disney should not be allowed to put out a blatant political mocudrama as they did this year in an attempt to influence US elections. Keep big media out of politics.

The main disturbing factor in this, is that before they released their mocumentary “The Path to 9/11”, they released it exclusively to conservative bloggers. Why did they do this? Why was there no equal coverage?

May they go down in flames for attempting to influence an election.

Bigelow Lab, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

2007-01-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

These are some of the views in and around my office building, Bigelow Lab. The first is a picture of the outside of the building. Notice the white cupola at the top of the building. Access to the cupola is through a spiral staircase on the fourth floor and it is open for anyone who works there to just go right on up. One can walk out on the deck surrounded by the railing as well.

The next three pictures are from the mens room bathroom. I thought that the plaque was pretty cool showing the flush chain form the old bathroom. Also, the view from the urinals.

The WHOI campus is huge, with some 20-30 buildings spread all over Woods Hole and the surrounding towns. Bigelow Lab was the original building for the Institution in 1930 and now houses the group that I’m in, the Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering (AOP&E) group, one of 6 large groups. Within AOP&E, I’m in the coolest group of them all, the acoustics group. I feel lucky to be able to work in the original building, on the ocean, in downtown Woods Hole. The view is spectacular.

The picture with the rainbow over the window is on the 4th floor and overlooks Woods Hole. The 4th floor is where random people in the dept. are housed. The acoustics group is on the 2nd floor, which is where my office is.

The spiral staircase heads up to the cupola and is right next to the rainbow window.

The rest of the pictures are from outside the cupola on the roof of Bigelow. The first overlooks the Sound by the office, which I think is called Vineyard Sound. You can see Martha’s Vineyard off in the distance. Other pictures are of Water street which is Main street, downtown Woods Hole. The picture of the various moored boats are of Eel Pond in Woods Hole, for which there is a draw bridge this is raised that lets them out. That is on the opposite side of Bigelow from the ocean.

All in all, it is an awesome place to work.

Netflix customer service = Nonexistant

2007-01-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Got a problem with netflix, your screwed. After an extensive internet search I’ve come to the conclusion there there is no such thing as a way to contact Netflix via email. Further, I found their Customer Service phone number on the web, but waited on hold for 1/2 hour and gave up.

Bottom line is that I don’t have time for this. I’ve cancelled my account and filed a complaint with the California Attorney General for this illegal activity. (The illegalness stems for the original problem I needed to discuss with Netflix Customer Service.)

Ghostbusters 3

2007-01-09T16:18:00.001-07:00

Give it to me please. Ghostbusters 3, with a great script would bring me back to life, please give it to me. Rumors abound on the Internet about this moving coming about. I can only hope that it is a worthy effort resulting in an awesome movie.

Also, let me take this opportunity to state that Ghostbusters is probably the best movie of all time.

The USA needs a branch of the armed services dedicated to cyberspace.

2007-01-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Information systems in the United States of America (and the rest of the world for that matter) of both the armed forces and civilian networks are wide open to computer attack. Computers located in US army facilities are well known to be lying password unprotected. Sensitive information is open for public viewing. Were an enemy state to make a concerted effort to attack the US via the internet, there would not be much to stop them and the consequences could be dramatic. Even a simple denial of service attack would be enough to cripple the US government. Were a more sophisticated attack brought through the use of a virus or a worm, the damage could be widespread. The simple reliance of so many government agencies on the notoriously insecure Microsoft Windows operating systems is frightening in its own right.

Why can’t existing agencies not take on this task? The mandates for the CIA, FBI, and NSA are not specific to this task and thus their focus cannot be brought fully to the intricacies of this problem. Not only do defensive systems need to be in place, but we also must have to capability of disabling enemy systems via the internet.

Let us not forget the massacre in Uzbekistan

2007-01-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

On May 13th, 2005, Uzbekistan authorities opened fired on a peaceful demonstration of 10,000 people. It is not known how many died, but estimates go as high as 2500. What have the United States and the European Union done about this atrocity? Absolutely nothing.

I love my Apple

2007-01-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Not a day goes by that I don’t fully enjoy using my Apple computer. It is a truly amazing experience to be able to use this computer. No confusion, everything really nicely organized, and the built in search rocks.

Anti-gay = evil racist bigotry promoted by hate groups equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan

2007-01-09T16:05:00.001-07:00

I won't say too much about this because this should be obvious. Would you discriminate against african-americans? Should african-americans be denied the right to marry and have their partners receive their employment and health benefits? The answers to these questions had better be a resounding NO. Then why would someone endorse this kind of discrimination against gay people? IT IS NOT RIGHT. Make a stand as you obviously should have in the civil-rights era. Make a stand and do the right thing. Hate groups such as the American Family Association (Owner of Family Life Radio stations) should be outed and boycotted. AFA, the American Family Association was probably founded by members of the Ku Klux Klan and should not be allowed to influence public opinion on this issue. They hate and it is not enough for them to keep their hatred within their households -- they bring it into the public arena by trying to claim a higher ground. In fact, history will reflect on the AFA as it does on the KKK and reveal their evilness. Boycott this hate group organization and others like it (Boyscouts of America). Fight, fight, fight until this issue is settled once and for all.

Walt Disney could care less about your family

2007-01-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Just got back from visiting Walt Disney World in Florida and had a great time. The place is great for kids and families to have a good time. However, there are darker sides to the Magic Kindom. As an example, consider the foods at the various parks. Do you like eating healthy? If so, don't go to WDW --- the only food you can find at any of the many vendors selling food and drink is junk food. Not a healthy menu to be found. It almost seems they would like to encourage obesity in the US just so that people will spend more money at their parks. Yes, it is a business and their motivation is to make money. In fact, money is their only motivation -- they could care less about you and yours. I can understand paying a somewhat sizeable entrance fee to get into the various parks, given all that one can do there. So, pay a large fee up front and be done with it. Not at Disney -- they will try and suck every last penny from you. Not one thing within the park is priced decently. Some examples of out of control capitalism that I witnessed at the parks are $2.50 for a nonpareil (piece of chocolate about 1 inch diameter, 1/2 inch thick with some sprinkles on it), $4.50 for a run of the mill hot dog!!, $60.00 for a stocking cap at Norway in Epcot, and $8.00 for a pint of beer at a pub in the UK in Epcot. Want to treat your family and show them responsible business practices, don't go to Walt Disney World and support their little empire and its' share holders. It is time for the Mouse to be dethroned.

The major media organizations in the United States of America are nothing more than political propaganda machines

2007-01-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

If the war in Iraq isn't enough to prove that the mainstream media no longer has any journalistic credentials, then I'm not sure what would. Perhaps the reporters the White House is paying to report the news for them, their way. = Armstrong Williams. Please listen to the weekly radio broadcast Counterspin (if your local NPR station does not play this show, then the podcast can be downloaded from the iTunes website). Counterspin is produced by the media watchdog group FAIR (fair.org) and provides in-depth criticism of the mainstream media and illustrates what the mainstream journalists have seemingly forgotten since journalism school (if they ever even attended).

Something is rotten with the state of intramural sports at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute

2007-01-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Sadly, with all the greatness of many, many things on the RPI campus, and all the attention to so many facets of student life, intramural sports is sadly neglected. I give as an example, intramural soccer. There are no referees, which is alright in itself, as most teams can play fair and honor like. However, there is no supervision of any sort for the league and consequently it is a sham. For example, the league is broken into four divisions, A,B,C and D -- A being the hardest and D the easiest. Quite often the D league is loaded by sandbaggers and ever more troubling is that some teams will play in all four leagues to increase their chances of winning. What is the point in league separation if teams are just going to play wherever they wish?

Thank you, brother Steven, for the new blog!

2007-01-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

My brother Steven setup this blog for me, and it is quite nice with all the bells and whistles. I owe you big time bro. I will be transferring all of my old posts from the original blog to this one. The originals can still be found here:

http://www.beourguest.net/blog/

Pluto's Recent Demotion to a Lesser Planet

2006-12-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Save Pluto! Make Pluto a planet again!

The Internal Astronomical Union (IAU) has recently voted to demote Pluto from its status as a planet to that of a “lesser planet”. This decision was decided in a vote by about 10% of the world’s astronomers in what was called a “hijacked vote” by a specialized group of planetary scientists known as dynamicists.

A definition was adopted to define what is a planet and by the new definition, Earth and Neptune should not be a planet either! Pluto was demoted to its current status because it was unable to clear its own orbit of debris. Well, Pluto is within Neptune’s orbit and the Moon within the Earth’s. This part of the “new” planet definition is poor at best and needs to be done away with.

The best definition of a planet is a simple one and probably one that most people would agree on. A good basis is that of the object having enough mass/gravity to round itself. This definition would exclude objects in the meteor belt (some of which are bigger than Pluto), but would return Pluto to planet status and promote Xena to a planet.

Something is rotten with the state of intramural sports at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute

2006-12-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Chris Mathews and MSNBC Suck

2006-12-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Please visit this link: http://americablog.blogspot.com/. Apparently Chris Mathews has labeled anyone who is a critic of the Bush administration as a terrorist comparable to Osama Bin Laden.

Were the major media outlets nothing more than a propaganda organization for the Bush administration, this behavior would not go unpunished. Don't let it.