Folks I work with at MIT are looking for a contract programmer.

the posting

I can talk to you about it, but I don't really know the details.

I believe the project is funded by a US Gov't grant and relates to information privacy and transparency.

I haven't quite figured out what to make of this process, but if you happen to see a balloon like this today...



... please let me know ASAP. (I'm playing on the nerdfighters team; the money will go to charity.)

I think this is just about the best piece of music ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVqJh0qEMc



(Well, at least this week I'm hopelessly in love with it. Next week it'll probably be something else.)

I'm looking for a video clip to punctuate a talk, emphasizing that just because you implied something doesn't mean I inferred it, and if I infer it when you didn't imply it, that's my fault.

Any ideas?

(Neither Weird Al's "Close But No Cigar" nor "Paris When It Sizzles" quite fit the bill.)

After five days of somewhat odd cold/flu symptoms, I finally saw my doctor. I'm usually a fan of "it'll go away on its own", but my annual physical was scheduled, and I wasn't quite foolish enough to cancel it because I was sick.

He listened to my lungs with an "oh.....!"

It's walking pneumonia. Fun fun. It's bizarre, really; I would have described the main symptoms as "being achey, light cough, headachey, loss of apetite", but now I realize almost all of the ache is that my right lung hurts. That concept just wasn't in my mental vocabulary until today, so I just registered it as a non-localized ache.

Our bodies are so weird. (I think the headache is not getting good oxygen supply all the time, since breathing is hard.) The good news is the organism behind this usually responds well to a 5-day antibiotic.

He also added a new theory to my long-standing problem of catching some disease whenever I start exercising regularly (which I did again on July 12). My leading theory is that it's just about system stress; working out too hard takes resources away from the immune system. I think I made it six weeks this time instead of my usual two because I've been trying to take it really easy, just pushing myself a little each day. (A lot more brisk-walking and less jogging or whatever.) In fact, a week ago today, I really didn't take it easy. And the kids had just been coughing all over me. So I blame that.

Anyway, my doctor suggested that it would help to use albuterol (ProAir) before exercising, to let my lungs vent more fully, and that that should help reduce the risk of infection. I guess I need to try to find some research on this... I told him I'd give it a try. (My previously-severe, chronic asthma has been beautifully checked by Advair; for five years now, I haven't needed to use albuterol at all; before that I used it many, many times a day. I don't feel like an asthmatic anymore, so taking albuterol seems weird....)

Anyway. Those are the more interesting bits of today's medical dealings.

This is a scam artist, right? You can tell by his English and typing, and then wanting to pay like that at the end confirms it.

( Read more... )

There's been a little staffing change at work, and I'm supposed to start spending 20% of my time on eGov stuff. This will including attending meetings like the gov2.0summit, where everyone will dress in business formal. No one is saying I have to wear a suit and tie, but people are suggesting that if I do, I'll end up being a lot more comfortable and effective.

I don't think I've worn a suit since doing job interviews in college. Oh, and once for halloween.

Advice? I don't know the first thing about suits.....

In an article in in the Aug 2009 issue of Psychology Today, I read this paragraph about [White House chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel's family:

The center of the Emanuel universe was the family dinner table, a boisterous place where all the meaningful issue of the day were hotly debated. While Rahm has called the verbal combat that took place there "gladitorial," [older brother] Zeke described it to me as more of a Talmudic Debate -- the Jewish tradition of argument where one's opponent is viewed as an ally in the search for truth. "It's a sign of love to take someone's view seriously," says Zeke, who has fostered at NIH a style modeled directly on the Emanual dinner table; he calls it "combative collegiality."

... and she's have a party at my house in Belmont, 11am to 3pm, this Saturday.

(I'll provide some sort of lunch, probably pizza and salad.)

(She's hoping someone will volunteer to provide pie. She really wants a pie, instead of a cake, but doesn't trust me to make a good one.)

Poll #1443433
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

Boudicca turns 10. What do you do?

I'm starting to circulate this ad. Please spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested. (I'm not really sure what to charge. This is a first attempt.)

The Rooms:
   - 25x12 wood-paneled room, with working fireplace
   - adjacent 12x12 partially-finished room
   - your own bathroom
   - enclosed back yard (with lawn and shade trees)
   - private entrance, through back yard
   - available Sept 1 

Appliances and Utilities:
   - refrigerator included
   - hotplate, microwave, toaster-oven okay (not included)
   - shared washer and dryer
   - central air conditioning
   - high-speed WiFi (and wired ethernet) included
   - all utilities included

The Neighborhood:
   - one off-street parking space included
   - in Belmont, near Arlington and Cambridge, not far from 
     Somerville, Watertown, Waltham, and Lexington.
   - near #78 bus to Harvard Square and many busses to Alewife
   - 25 minute walk to Alewife Station

Coincidentally, it turns out the public pool 4 minutes from my house (which happens to be the first outdoor pool in America) has a diving board, which people are allowed to use. They position one lifeguard right next to the board, to make sure the area under the board is clear before the next diver goes. The pool is only available to Belmont residents, but I happen to be one.

Last night, B started doing 360 flips off the board. :-)

(The design of the pool is funny and suboptimal, but makes sense given its age. It's designed like a lake, gradually sloping down from the edges to the center, and the diving board is on a platform near the center, with the board over the center. There's an underwater wall (with holes in it) keeping one shallow side apart from the rest, for non-swimmers.)

I'll skip the free-range-parenting rant and just ask: does anyone know of a public swimming spot where diving is allowed? A board would be nice, but all the pools and lakes I visit with my kids don't allow any head-first diving of any sort, even off the edge, except when you're in an organized activity (eg class). Some of my kids are learning in a class, but they only have time for about 5 dives a week (since during the class they have to take turns with the rest of the class), which is kind of annoying....

(Or is it really too dangerous, like biking without a helmet, or something...?)

There's something deeply compelling about geohashing.

(geocaching is cool, too, but geohashing is ... deliciously twisted.)

I learned of it last night.

Meanwhile, Friday's are good because you learn of three upcoming events at once. Sunday's is extraordinarily convenient. It's on North St, just off off Boston Ave, in Medford.

(I guess it's kind of like twitter. pretty much completely useless; kinda fun; and just kind of mind-bendingly weird.)

Huh. Since I was a kid, I've always thought I knew what 'arms akimbo' meant, and I was always wrong.

Am I the only one?

Bonus points for guessing the wikipedia path that got me here from last night's news coverage. (It's only six steps. Should be no problem. :-)

I don't understand money at all.

Background: Alice grows and sells apples. Her normal price is $50 a bushel. Bob goes to her farm stand to buy two bushels, which he and his family will eat.

Scenario 1: Bob buys two bushels from Alice, paying $100. On his drive home, he goes around a turn too fast, and one of the bushels slides out of his truck. The apples roll off the edge of the road, bouncing down into the fire swamp. They are all lost, forever. Bob kicks himself for just having wasted $50.

Scenario 2: Alice decides to drum up some excitement, so she holds a special sale: all apples are half-price from noon to 1pm today. Not knowing this, Bob arrives just after the sale ends, and has to pay the full price of $100 for his two bushels. He kicks himself for having just wasted $50.

Scenario 3: Alice has the sale, as in Scenario 1, but in this version Bob knows about it, but he decides Alice is being foolish with this sale. He thinks he should pay the fair, normal price, so he arrives after lunch. He pays the $100 and feels good about it. When he gets home, his wife kicks him for just having wasted $50. He argues he didn't waste anything. It's not like scenario 1, he says. Nothing was actually lost, he argues, and Alice will probably make good use of the money.

So.... Is there a way of thinking about these situations that really makes sense?

The crucial bit for me is at the end, where I can't figure out if I've just "lost", and if so how bad it is, especially when the other person just gets the money anyway. It seems to me there's something fundamentally different between the kind of waste in 1 (where the apples end up in the fire swamp) and the kind of waste in 2 and 3 (where the money ends up in someone else's pocket), but I don't have the language for talking (or thinking) about that difference.

Maybe it's about teams? If Bob considers Alice on the "same team", then it's not a loss to give her money unnecessarily? If Bob considers the worms in the fire swamp on his team, then it's not even a waste when the apples go to feed them? (Although, they'd be just as happy with $5 worth of horse manure, so that argument really doesn't hold up.)

This set was taken with a Nikon D50, with a 70-300 lens (as I recall). (There other two sets were with fixed 50mm lenses. Obviously this allowed a different kind of shot.)

My favorite five are below. Others I like a lot are here. If you like these, you'll like those.

(The unedited, full set is on flickr. Thanks again to mothermirth for the use of her camera.)

I was unable to bring my camera this year, but as it turns out, three different people were willing to lend me their (vastly better) cameras to play with!

Here are some of my favorites from the first set, taken with an old Canon EOS Digital Rebel. And below are five of my favorites from with those favorites.

(Please forgive my pre-millenial photosharing technology. Oh, and actually Sierra took the Bonnie and Sophia ones, not me.)

Hmmm, I don't happen to have feast gear for me or the kids any more. Any local scadians have any to lend me for tomorrow? Or know of any cheap and easy way to fake it?

Yes, it'll be a combined party.

Saturday, 1pm, beaver brook park, sprinkler area, on Trapelo Rd, at the end of Mill St.


Poll #1411073 Aubrey's Birthday Party
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

Will you be there?

At this point, I expect we'll have Aubrey's birthday party this Saturday afternoon, June 6.

Exact time and location to follow.

(If anyone is torn between this and Scott & Inae's party for their Julian, please let me know; we're considering having them at the same time & location.)