Jamcleat

Blessings

cbcalvin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:25:44 +0000

I am blessed that last month my son son became a member Upsilon Pi Epsilon (ΥΠΕ), the International honor society for people with interest and ability in Computer Science (CS).
I am impressed that in a small school, the UPE inductees include a young woman and young man with a visual handicap.

Forbidden Fruit II

cbcalvin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:50:25 +0000

I do not claim any understanding of Nelder-Mead or anything like it, also called a downhill method of finding a minimum for a system of equations, which, if you keep up with these things, may be old news. But consider the possibility of the inverse, nearing the summit realizing that whatever your strategy and method, the climb has led you up the wrong peak. Or more to the point, in the valley, you cannot realize or see that the adjacent (or some very distant) valley is lower but not chosen because the initial solution set off in the wrong direction. The desired goal is now distant. Maybe in Step n, there could be a global check for other minima. Or maybe this accomplishes that trick.

Forbidden Fruit I

cbcalvin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:08:46 +0000

Those who might have noticed an up-tick in the “On the Player”. Not to mention that there is an up-tick in the volume. My wife is away taking care of folks that took care of the country in World War II. Both of them are ok but they want to be independent and strong and some of those things start to fade.
So I am here taking care of the cats (5 neutered males, 2 neutered females, 3 stray males), doing the laundry, dishes, and listening to music that is…not usually permitted.
Challenge: Find a 10 second segment of any 20 second segment of “Dust Devils” that would not make an outstanding ring-tone (not necessarily for you, just for someone). If you have that in mind do not waste you time looking at t’boli or squeal piggy.
Challenge 2: A sub-woofer for a cell phone that replicates the heart-stopping pulse of a car-trunk kick speaker or floor bass.

Busy Weekend

cbcalvin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:06:33 +0000

After a bit of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning, my daughter came down from Asheville in the afternoon. We had supper of spaghetti and salad and music that we rarely get to hear. Sunday, my son came down from school, BLT’s for lunch, naps, daughter changed the oil in her car and we had meat loaf and baked potatoes for supper.

Analemma

cbcalvin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:48:23 +0000

Tomorrow night you will be [nodding | shaking | scratching] your head at President Obama’s State of the Union Address. As a politician, Obama (or his speech writers) will make sure that all of the right buttons are pushed. As a citizen, you will be shaking your head at all of the unfulfilled promises of the campaign trail. And as a real live person, you will be scratching your head as to [where are we now? | what should we do? | long range plans?]. Yes, Barack Obama is the ultimate enigma. Perhaps, recent election results will energize him to new ideas and directions. Hopefully the face-to-face with the massed Congress will be a wake up call to both the Congress and the President. I suspect that despite the applause, most of the 435+100+9+1 will sleep through class. Do not blame the professor (at least I expect him to show on time, the Secret Service will see to that), I suspect insufficient pre-class preparation by the occupants of the lecture hall is the main problem.

Thyme, Thyme, Thyme, What Has Become of You

cbcalvin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:37:15 +0000

The previous post started my mind wandering and when it sat down to rest it was thinking of this folk singer. Stan Kelly-Bootle is a favorite of mine, not as a folk singer, but rather for his commentary on the state of computing. I first found his writing in the Unix Review, still worth seeking, old SODA, never flat. And contemporary as the Curmudgeon in the ACM Queue on-line magazine.

Missing Kate McGarrigle

cbcalvin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:09:40 +0000

A note on the front of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday made me sad. I will miss Kate McGarrigle but I will always hear her song.

Check Your Cats Credentials Carefully

cbcalvin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:17:52 +0000

I stumbled on this list while surfing the other night. While none of our cats have showed any interest in furthering their education, it is possible that one of may try to fake it. Watch out.

Health Care

cbcalvin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:14:10 +0000

With the secret House-Senate committee sorting out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the so-called Health Care bills, it may be the time to say that what was needed was a lot less and way more than what is being discussed.
What is needed less is government imposed price controls ala Medicare and Medicaid. Price controls lead to shortages. But you are probably too young to remember Jimmy Carter’s government induced gasoline shortage.
What is needed more is supply. So end the government supported insurance oligopoly. Reduce state regulation to fiduciary oversight. No imposed benefits. Allow companies to sell insurance in other states. Just make sure that the insurance companies deliver what they contracted to deliver. The rest will take care of itself.

Windows 7

cbcalvin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:44:10 +0000

My long-time friend Bob sent me news to help understand Windrows 7. Hay-Hay-Hay.
Fortunately I only have to use Window at work. The company I work for can afford to pay lots of smart people to protect me from folks who would do bad things to my computer. At home, I use Ubuntu, a Linux based system. Much less worry about invasive software problems.